Overview

Income inequality has skyrocketed in Canada over the past few decades. The rich have become richer, while the average household income has deteriorated and job quality has plummeted. Common explanations for these trends point to globalization, technology, or other forces largely beyond our control. But, as Jobs with Inequality shows, there is nothing inevitable about inequality. Rather, runaway inequality is the result of politics and policies - what governments have done to aid the rich and boost finance and what they have not done to uphold the interests of workers. Drawing on new tax and income data, John Peters tells the story of how inequality is unfolding in Canada today by examining post-democracy, financialization, and labour market deregulation. Timely and novel, Jobs with Inequality explains how and why business and government have rewritten the rules of the economy to the advantage of the few, and considers why progressive efforts to reverse these trends have so regularly run aground.

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9781442646193

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Reviews

Jobs with Inequality is a timely analysis of income inequality in Canada, exploring how interconnections between the politics of post-democracy, financialization, and deregulation of the labour market fuel its growth. In his comparative analysis, Peters highlights the role of powerful economic interests and the financial sector in shifting public policy in the 2010s. Focusing on the oft-neglected 'political' in political economy, this book challenges the view that Canada is a relatively equitable society and advances a set of theoretical propositions towards an alternative perspective. - Leah F. Vosko, Canada Research Chair in The Political Economy of Gender and Work, and Professor of Political Science, York University Jobs with Inequality is pathbreaking, and Canadian and critical political economists alike will learn a great deal from its imaginative and compelling framework. The book judiciously addresses competing perspectives and shows how considering a broader political economic context can provide a far more persuasive explanation. Jobs with Inequality is a wholly original and convincing account of inequality in Canada. It adds a great deal to Canadian political economy as well as to comparative political economy and financialization studies. - Eric Pineault, Professor of Sociology, Universite du Quebec a Montreal Jobs with Inequality provides an insightful and original analysis of why inequality has risen so dramatically in recent decades. Instead of focusing on the usual culprits, Peters unpacks the political dynamics of financialization and labour market deregulation. His findings show the high social costs of expanding corporate influence on public policy, as well as the importance of broad-based social movements that challenge this influence. - Virginia Doellgast, Professor of Comparative Employment Relations, Cornell University Accounts of rising inequality and the proliferation of poorly paid jobs have become depressingly common in recent years. But rarely have I seen so forensic an analysis and compelling an explanation as John Peters provides in this new book. In an exemplary use of critical political economy, Peters deploys the concept of 'post-democracy' in Canada to explain how public policy has reshaped the labour market to the detriment of workers. - Chris Howell, James Monroe Professor of Politics, Oberlin College Rising inequality within countries is one of the central issues of our time, but its causes remain hotly disputed. John Peters contributes not just a novel and interesting perspective to this vital debate but also a detailed examination of the Canadian experience (including three provincial case studies) that has been much less studied than that of many other countries. - Eric Helleiner, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo

Jobs with Inequality is a timely analysis of income inequality in Canada, exploring how interconnections between the politics of post-democracy, financialization, and deregulation of the labour market fuel its growth. In his comparative analysis, Peters highlights the role of powerful economic interests and the financial sector in shifting public policy in the 2010s. Focusing on the oft-neglected 'political' in political economy, this book challenges the view that Canada is a relatively equitable society and advances a set of theoretical propositions towards an alternative perspective. - Leah F. Vosko, Canada Research Chair in The Political Economy of Gender and Work, and Professor of Political Science, York University Jobs with Inequality is pathbreaking, and Canadian and critical political economists alike will learn a great deal from its imaginative and compelling framework. The book judiciously addresses competing perspectives and shows how considering a broader political economic context can provide a far more persuasive explanation. Jobs with Inequality is a wholly original and convincing account of inequality in Canada. It adds a great deal to Canadian political economy as well as to comparative political economy and financialization studies. - Éric Pineault, Professor of Sociology, Université du Québec à Montréal Jobs with Inequality provides an insightful and original analysis of why inequality has risen so dramatically in recent decades. Instead of focusing on the usual culprits, Peters unpacks the political dynamics of financialization and labour market deregulation. His findings show the high social costs of expanding corporate influence on public policy, as well as the importance of broad-based social movements that challenge this influence. - Virginia Doellgast, Professor of Comparative Employment Relations, Cornell University Accounts of rising inequality and the proliferation of poorly paid jobs have become depressingly common in recent years. But rarely have I seen so forensic an analysis and compelling an explanation as John Peters provides in this new book. In an exemplary use of critical political economy, Peters deploys the concept of 'post-democracy' in Canada to explain how public policy has reshaped the labour market to the detriment of workers. - Chris Howell, James Monroe Professor of Politics, Oberlin College Rising inequality within countries is one of the central issues of our time, but its causes remain hotly disputed. John Peters contributes not just a novel and interesting perspective to this vital debate but also a detailed examination of the Canadian experience (including three provincial case studies) that has been much less studied than that of many other countries. - Eric Helleiner, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo

Author Information

John Peters is an associated professor and research fellow at the University of Montreal’s Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT).

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