Title The Undeserving Rich : American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution / Leslie McCall, Northwestern University

Published Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2013

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 300 pages) : illustrations Contents 1. Introduction: thinking about income inequality -- 2. Beyond the opposition between opportunity and inequality: theories of beliefs about inequality from the nineteenth century to the present -- 3. The emergence of a new social issue: media coverage of income inequality and social class in the United States, 1980-2010 -- 4. American beliefs about income inequality: what, when, who, and why -- 5. Why do Americans care about income inequality? The role of opportunity -- 6. Social policy preferences in the era of rising inequality -- 7. Conclusion: a new era of beliefs about inequality Tables and Figures; Preface and Acknowledgments; Introduction; The Un/Deserving Rich; Method; Organization of the Book; 1 Beyond the Opposition between Opportunity and Inequality; Theories of Beliefs about Inequality; Beliefs in Principle: The Multiple Spheres Approach; Historical Foundations of Beliefs in Principle: The Tolerance Perspective; Beliefs about Inequality in Practice, I: Ambivalence in the Postwar Period; Beliefs about Inequality in Practice, II: Ignorance in the Era of Rising Inequality; The Un/Deserving Rich; 2 The Emergence of a New Social Issue Defining Media Coverage of Income InequalityNews Media Coverage of Income Inequality; Articles with Subject Terms on Economic Inequality, Social Class, and Job Insecurity; Articles on Inequality from an Expanded List of Subject Terms; Why Is Inequality Covered?; Appendix A: Article Selection Methods; Appendix B: Extended List of Search Terms; Appendix C: Additional Results; 3 American Beliefs about Income Inequality; What Do Americans Believe?; Do American Beliefs Change over Time?; Why Do American Beliefs Change?; Who Cares about Income Inequality? Macroeconomic Effects on Attitudinal ShiftsEffects of Inequality and the Media on Attitudinal Shifts; The Un/Deserving Rich; Appendix; Sample Definitions and Weights; Survey Question Bias; Statistical Models of Descriptive Trends; Variables and Definitions; Analytic Models and the Typical Respondent; 4 Why Do Americans Care about Income Inequality?; Five Tropes of Opportunity; Beliefs about Opportunity and Inequality; Bootstraps versus Equal Treatment Opportunity; Just Deserts Opportunity; Rising Tide Opportunity; Group-Based Equal Treatment Opportunity The Connection between Opportunity and InequalityAppendix; 5 Americans' Social Policy Preferences in the Era of Rising Inequality1; Policy Framework; Social Policy Preferences; No Change in Dissatisfaction with the Level of Inequality?; Increase in Desire for Government Redistribution?; No Change in Desire for Government Action?; Increase in Desire to Reduce Inequality of Opportunity?; Increase in Desire for Other Government Programs?; Increase in Desire for Regulation of Employer Pay Practices?; Increase in Desire for Not-Sure-What?; Broadening the Policy Discussion on Inequality; Conclusion Summary "It is widely assumed that Americans care little about income inequality, believe opportunities abound, admire the rich, and dislike redistributive policies. Leslie McCall contends that such assumptions are based on both misleading survey data and past economic conditions. In fact, Americans have desired less inequality for decades, and McCall's book explains why. Americans become most concerned about inequality in times of inequitable growth, when they view the rich as prospering while opportunities for good jobs, fair pay, and high quality education are restricted for everyone else. As a result, they favor policies to expand opportunity and redistribute earnings in the workplace, reducing inequality in the market rather than redistributing income after the fact with tax and spending policies. This book resolves the paradox of how Americans can express little enthusiasm for welfare state policies and still yearn for a more equitable society"-- Provided by publisher "Chapter One Introduction: Thinking about Income Inequality In the past decade, we have witnessed one sensational event after another connected in some way to rising income inequality. As I write, it is the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is not only demanding greater economic and social equality for the bottom ninety-nine against the top one "percenters" but coining a new set of class categories in the process. Almost a decade ago, when I began research on American beliefs about rising inequality, it was the scandals surrounding Enron that were making front page news, with the pension funds of workers and retirees evaporating into thin air as the coffers of executives mysteriously survived. In between Enron and Occupy Wall Street, there is no shortage of occasions to reflect on the state of income inequality in the U.S.-the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, the outsourcing of middle class jobs to Ireland and India, Hurricane Katrina, the financial crisis and the Great Recession. At each turn in the road, reporters and commentators concerned about rising income inequality but dismayed by the lack of political attention given to the issue declared that finally it would be taken seriously. And this says nothing of the events prior to the 2000s, several of which pointed the finger at rising inequality just as vehemently, as I show in my analysis of media coverage of income inequality in chapter 3. Yet nothing has changed. Income inequality continues its rise to heights unfathomable just a few generations ago. The late public intellectual and eminent Harvard sociologist Daniel Bell wrote in 1973 that earnings inequality "will be one of the most vexing questions in a post-industrial society." Heconomies of the past"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-292) and index Notes English Print version record Subject Income distribution -- United States Equality -- United States POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Government -- General. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economics -- Macroeconomics. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Economic Conditions. Economic history Equality Income distribution Einkommensdisparität Einkommensverteilung Wahrnehmung SUBJECT United States -- Economic conditions. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140020 Subject United States USA Form Electronic book ISBN 9781107348110 1107348110 9781107341869 1107341868 9781139225687 1139225685 9781299408951 1299408958 1107236789 9781107236783 1107255597 9781107255593 1107344360 9781107344365

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