The return of inequality : social change and the weight of the past

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This pioneering work transcends economic discussions to illustrate how rising inequality is reverting societies to a past characterized by empires, dynastic elites, and ethnic divisions. The stark reality is that wealth is increasingly concentrated, with the super-rich distancing themselves from the affluent. While mainstream economists downplay concerns about distribution in favor of growth, the author, acclaimed sociologist Mike Savage, argues that inequality has severe negative impacts on societal structures. He demonstrates how economic disparity exacerbates cultural, social, and political tensions, undermining the integrity of liberal democratic nation-states. This severe inequality fractures social bonds and aligns democratic processes with the interests of a resurgent aristocracy, reviving political conditions reminiscent of historical empires and elite dominance. Inequality threatens to drag us back to a history we believed we had left behind since the Age of Revolution. Savage emphasizes that Western societies have been slow to recognize how inequality erodes the foundations of liberal democracy, including trust in the political community's commitment to all members. By engaging with the theories of thinkers like Marx, Bourdieu, and Piketty, he reveals how inequality reintroduces the burdens of the past. This work is both analytically rigorous and passionately argued, making it a crucial contribution to contemporary p