 Middle-Class Politics: A Force for Equality or Inequality ?Bradley Smith ()
Post-Print from HAL Abstract: The 1950s saw the emergence of the ideology that the United States had become a "middle-class society," thanks in part to the political legacy of the New Deal. Between the development of a welfare state, higher taxes on upper incomes and a policy of home ownership, many working-class Americans were able to swell the ranks of the middle classes, while wealthier Americans saw their share of income decline. The middle classes thus appear to be a political engine for equality. However, since the late 1970s, the United States has witnessed a return to levels of economic inequality not seen since the 1920s. Some blamed this on the greed of high finance; others, on the irresponsibility of the over-indebted working and middle classes. Without denying that there is some truth in these analyses, this paper highlights the central political role played by the middle classes in the dynamic that led to widening inequalities and the subprime crisis. Paradoxically, the middle classes can also be a driving force behind inequality. Keywords: Middle Classes; American economic policy; Neoliberalism; Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers) Published in Congrès de l’AFEA 2017 : La recherche du bonheur, Marie-Jeanne Rossignol; François Specq; Jocelyn Dupont, Jun 2017, Strasbourg (University of Strasbourg), France There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04380064 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Post-Print from HAL |
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