The Issue of Our Time: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America

Abstract

Does deepening economic inequality in the United States threaten our democracy? This is the fundamental question posed by the APSA task force report, and the answer is a resounding Yes. The critical synthesis of the literature on participation, governance, and policy is intellectually provocative, and the forceful presentation of recent trends in political inequality that support this conclusion underscores important practical implications for the nation's political economy.Linda Faye Williams' book The Constraint of Race: Legacies of White Skin Privilege in America won the 2004 W. E. B. DuBois award for best book of the year (National Conference of Black Political Scientists); the Best Book of 2004 on Public Policy (APSA's Section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics); and the 2004 Michael Harrington Award (APSA's Caucus for a New Political Science).