081 - Thematic Session. Challenging Economic Inequality: Leveraging Cracks in the Structures of Business Power

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

"The 2016 election for president is likely to see a vigorous debate about the deepening inequality of wealth and income in the United States. The issue has already become a major topic in the early maneuvering of candidates in the primaries of both parties. The issue is also being kept alive by social movements fighting for a higher minimum wage and for raises for workers in the fast food industry. At the same time, there is also more and more scholarly discussion of what are the best policy measures for reducing economic inequalities.

However, reversing deeply rooted patterns of economic inequality requires big reforms, and the opportunity for major reform initiatives occur rarely in U.S. politics given the power of entrenched economic interests. In fact, a strong current of research in political sociology suggests that such reform breakthroughs are only like to occur when there are deep divisions within the economic elite.

Hence, this session will focus on the question of current divisions within the economic elite and the prospects that social movements might leverage those divisions to win major reforms. The speakers will address the issue of fragmentation and division within the U.S. business class and how this might link to movements from below.
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Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Fred Block, University of California-Davis

Presider

• Nitsan Chorev, Brown University

Panelists

• Mark S. Mizruchi, University of Michigan

• Stephen Lerner, Georgetown University

• Stephanie L. Mudge, University of California-Davis

• Fred Block, University of California-Davis