03718nam 2200481 450 991079265040332120230126214944.00-19-936135-50-19-936134-7(CKB)3710000001018580(MiAaPQ)EBC4786626(EXLCZ)99371000000101858020170130h20172017 uy 0engurcnu||||||||rdacontentrdamediardacarrierNever enough capitalism and the progressive spirit /Neil GilbertNew York, New York :Oxford University Press,2017.©20171 online resource (233 pages)0-19-936133-9 Includes bibliographical references and indexes.The Progressive Spirit -- Poverty Amid Abundance -- No Longer a Massive Affliction: Are You Blind? -- The Root of All Evil -- Inequality Amid Abundance: What’s the Harm? -- Social Mobility: Going Up and Coming Down -- The Arc and Ladder of Social Mobility -- Taxing and Spending -- From Cradle to Grave -- The Social Compass of Progressive ConservatismIt is said that greed fuels capitalism and socialism feeds on envy. But what happens in a stable society when a successful economy generates material progress for one population sector, while simultaneously creating income inequality and poverty for another sector? While this has long been a classic debate for economists, Neil Gilbert, a social welfare theorist, offers a new take. In this landmark work, Gilbert addresses the long-standing tensions between capitalism and the progressive spirit and challenges the contemporary progressive outlook on the failures of capitalism. In doing this, Never Enough analyzes the empirical evidence for conventional claims about the real level of poverty, the presumed causes and consequences of inequality, the meaning and underlying dynamics of social mobility, and the necessity for more social welfare spending and universal benefits. The book's careful analysis suggests that it is time to resist the material definition of progress that stands so high on the current agenda and envision alternative ways for our government to advance the "good society." Insatiable consumption and the commodification of everyday life has dominated the last half-century, and is encouraged by modern capitalism because it feeds the economy and is also used as a measure of individual success. But Gilbert argues that it is perhaps no longer the best way to stimulate the economy. Never Enough also challenges the prevailing assumptions about the decline of middle-class prosperity, opportunity and material well-being in the United States and in other post-industrial nations. In a careful reading of the evidence and a critical analysis of its implications, Gilbert demonstrates the extent to which the customary progressive claims about the severity of poverty, inequality, social mobility and the benefits of universalism not only distort the empirical reality of modern life in an era of abundance, but confounds efforts to help those most in need.Welfare stateUnited StatesCapitalismSocial aspectsUnited StatesEqualityUnited StatesDistributive justiceUnited StatesWelfare stateCapitalismSocial aspectsEqualityDistributive justice361.6/50973Gilbert Neil1940-484960MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910792650403321Never enough3775806UNINA