This groundbreaking book examines the nature and implications of social inequality in a new and illuminating way. The author examines key measures of social inequality and indicators of poverty across six selected nations - three Anglo-American countries (the US, UK, and Canada), and three Nordic nations (Finland, Norway, and Sweden). Professor Olsen's research shows that while inequality is an inherent and pervasive aspect of capitalism, and while the past few decades have seen sharp rises in inequality across the industrialized world, nonetheless substantial variances between countries continue to exist. In those countries like the US that have most zealously embraced neoliberalism, inequality and poverty have been exacerbated to a much greater degree than is the case in the Nordic lands, which still rank among the most egalitarian of countries. This cross-national variation challenges many prominent classical and contemporary theoretical accounts of inequality, and suggests that high levels of social inequality are neither necessary nor inevitable in advanced capitalist societies. They are, rather, the product of constellations of power and the interactions of social forces.

Gregg M. Olsen is professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba. His other books include The Politics of the Welfare State and Power and Inequality.

Gregg M. Olsen's profile page

"Power and Inequality is a very welcome addition to the inequality literature. Its contribution is greatly enhanced through an effectively justified and executed comparative cross-national focus. . . . While the book is broad-ranging in scope, it is concise and introduces very effectively the key issues, conceptual tools, debates, and key contributors to theory and research on inequality." --Julia S. O'Connor, University of Ulster

"An engrossing and persuasive cross-cultural analysis of how equality and inequality are defined and practiced." --Choice

"A comprehensive, accessible, and even-handed text that consolidates many strains of sociology. Bridging theoretical, empirical, and methodological levels, this book provides an insightful understanding, explanation, and documentation of inequality in its many guises. . . . This is good sociology." --Wallace Clement, Carleton University

"An excellent and timely book for Canadians. As the world continues to adjust with short-run measures to the financial turmoil of the fall of 2008, Gregg Olsen shows us why there is a deeper and more sustained crisis of growing inequality in the most advanced democracies. By comparing Canada, the US, and the UK with Sweden, Norway, and Finland, he shows that .... higher degrees of social equality and individual freedom not only are possible but already exist." --Ed Broadbent, author of Democratic Equality: What Went Wrong?

"A superb text, comprehensive in its attention to the material forms of inequality-income, wealth, health, poverty rates, etc.-as well as the non-material forms-dignity, recognition, rights and entitlements. It combines clear and engaging accounts of philosophical and social-scientific theories with rich empirical analysis, and makes excellent use of cross-national comparisons between Nordic and Anglo countries of the North Atlantic."' --William K. Carroll, University of Victoria

"An important overview, given that most discussions of equality are marred by superficial notions, prevalent among far too many students, that equality means we must all be the same." --Larry Patriquin, Socialist Studies