ABSTRACT

This book offers an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to thinking about inequality, and to understanding how inequality is produced and reproduced in the global South.

Without the safety net of the various Northern welfare states, inequality in the global South is not merely a socio-economic problem, but an existential threat to the social contract that underpins the democratic state and society itself. Only a response that is firmly grounded in the context of the global South can hope to address this problem. This collection brings together scholars from across the globe, with a particular focus on the global South, to address broad thematic areas such as the conceptual and methodological challenges of measuring inequality; the political economy of inequality in the global South; inequality in work, households and the labour market; and inequalities in land, spaces and cities. The book concludes by suggesting alternatives for addressing inequality in the global South and around the world.

The pioneering ideas and theories put forward by this volume make it essential reading for students and researchers of global inequality across the fields of sociology, economics, law, politics, global studies and development studies.

part 1|52 pages

Conceptual questions on inequality in the South

chapter 1|19 pages

Towards a Southern approach to inequality

Inequality studies in South Africa and the global South

chapter 2|11 pages

Is hierarchy the same as inequality?

chapter 3|20 pages

Inequality under globalisation

State of knowledge and implications for economics

part 2|68 pages

The political economy of inequality in the global South

chapter 4|20 pages

A survey of trends in macroeconomic policy and development in the global South

From World War II to the global financial crisis and beyond 1

chapter 5|24 pages

Economic power and regulation

The political economy of metals, machinery and equipment industries in South Africa

chapter 6|22 pages

Inegalitarian growth

India and Brazil compared

part 3|40 pages

Work, households and the labour market

part 4|42 pages

Land, space and cities

chapter 10|19 pages

Social reproduction at end moments

Land, class formation and rural economies in Ghana and South Africa

part 5|60 pages

Alternatives

chapter 11|16 pages

Minimum wages

Tackling labour market inequality

chapter 12|19 pages

Building counter power in the workplace

South Africa’s inequality paradox 1

chapter 14|6 pages

Conclusion