Unequal democracy [[electronic resource] ] : the political economy of the new gilded age / / Larry M. Bartels

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910345148103321
• Autore: Bartels Larry M. <1956->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York, : Russell Sage Foundation; Princeton, : Princeton University Press, c2008
• ISBN: 1-282-08697-9; 9786612086977; 1-4008-2835-X
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (342 p.)
• Disciplina: 330.973
• Soggetti: Equality - Economic aspects - United States; Political culture - United States - History; Social classes - Political aspects - United States; Power (Social sciences) - Economic aspects - United States; Democracy - Economic aspects - United States; United States Economic conditions 1945-
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [305]-316) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: The new gilded age -- Escalating economic inequality -- Interpreting inequality -- Economic inequality as a political issue -- Inequality and American democracy -- The partisan political economy -- Partisan patterns of income growth -- A partisan coincidence? -- Partisan differences in macroeconomic policy -- Macroeconomic performance and income growth -- Partisan policies and post-tax income growth -- Democrats, Republicans, and the rise of inequality -- Class politics and partisan change -- In search of the working class -- Has the white working class abandoned the Democratic party? -- Have working-class whites become more conservative? -- Do "moral values" trump economics? -- Are religious voters distracted from economic issues? -- Class politics, alive and well -- Partisan biases in economic accountability -- Myopic voters -- The political timing of income growth -- Class biases in economic voting -- The wealthy give something back: partisan biases in campaign spending -- Political ; consequences of biased accountability -- Do Americans care about inequality? -- Egalitarian values -- Rich and poor -- Perceptions of inequality -- Facts and values in the realm of inequality -- Homer gets a tax cut -- The Bush tax cuts -- Public support for the tax cuts -- Unenlightened self-interest -- The impact of political information -- Chump change -- Into the sunset -- The strange appeal of estate tax repeal -- Public support for estate tax repeal -- Is public support for repeal a product of misinformation? -- Did interest groups manufacture public antipathy to the estate tax? -- Elite ideology and the politics of estate tax repeal -- The eroding minimum wage -- The economic effects of the minimum wage -- Public support for the minimum wage -- The politics of inaction -- Democrats, unions, and the eroding minimum wage -- The earned income tax credit -- Reversing the tide -- Economic inequality and political representation -- Ideological representation -- Unequal responsiveness -- Unequal responsiveness on social issues: the case of abortion -- Partisan differences in representation -- Why are the poor unrepresented? -- Unequal democracy -- Who governs? -- Partisan politics and "the have-nots" -- Political obstacles to economic equality -- The city of utmost necessity.
• Sommario/riassunto: Using a vast swath of data spanning the past six decades, Unequal Democracy debunks many myths about politics in contemporary America, using the widening gap between the rich and the poor to shed disturbing light on the workings of American democracy. Larry Bartels shows the gap between the rich and poor has increased greatly under Republican administrations and decreased slightly under Democrats, leaving America grossly unequal. This is not simply the result of economic forces, but the product of broad-reaching policy choices in a political system dominated by partisan ideologies an