The concept of inequality has always been little practiced within the social sciences, especially due to the difficulty of answering questions such as: according to what aspects should we judge whether people are or are not equal? What criteria can be used to measure the implications of inequality with respect to well-being? After the 2008 crisis, the theme of inequality returned to the academic scene, mainly thanks to the publication of works such as Angus Deaton's The Great Escape and Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. In the wake of the renewed debate, the goals of this volume are mainly two. The first is to investigate the reasons that led to the marginalization of the issue of inequality: liberalism has never gone beyond the pursuit of equality of opportunity and a minimum level of equality of outcomes (in the form of a minimum social security); the socialism of Western democracies had as its purpose the reducing of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth; even societies formally committed to achieving communism have not sought to eliminate inequality. The question we would like to try answering is this: why has inequality always struggled to fit into political theories and practices? The second objective is to analyze the role of economic globalization as an engine of inequalities both within nation states and between rich and developing countries. In the context of globalization, the survey will focus on the inequalities produced by the shift of industrial work from Western countries to developing countries and the progressive precariousness of employment contracts. Finally, a further object of study will be the relationships between the increase in inequality, the crisis of the left (or, in any case, progressive) parties and the rise of new political movements defined as populists: these dynamics are debated mainly in Europe, but they also appear to be present in the Americas and Asia.
Submission guidelines
Papers Language: English, Italian.
Submission: papers must be addressed to the publisher at info@tabedizioni.it (e-mail object: “Equality and Inequality in the Global World (1950-2020” – CFPs).
Publication: The book will be published by tab edizioni in the book-series “Zenit. Indagini e ricerche di storia globale” (https://www.tabedizioni.it/shop/books/series/zenit-28?section=collane&order=ordering+descdesc).
Further instructions can be found here: https://www.tabedizioni.it/web/content/call_for_paper/23/file_paper/CFP_DISUGUAGLIANZA.pdf
https://www.tabedizioni.it/web/content/call_for_paper/23/file_paper/CFP_DISUGUAGLIANZA.pdf