Global Inequality: Anthropological Insights

by Kenneth McGill

Overview

Inequality is currently gaining considerable attention in academic, policy, and media circles. From Thomas Piketty to Robert Putnam, there is no shortage of economic, sociological, or political analyses. But what does anthropology, with its focus on the qualitative character of relationships between people, have to offer? Drawing on current scholarship and illustrative ethnographic case studies, McGill argues that anthropology is particularly well suited to interrogating global inequality, not just within nations, but across nations as well.

Brief, accessibly written, and peppered with vivid ethnographic examples that bring contemporary research to life, Global Inequality is an introduction to the topic from a unique and important perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442634534
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	05/20/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Kenneth McGill is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Southern Connecticut State University.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Preface

1. Introduction: Anthropology and Inequality

2. Global Inequality: Historical-Anthropological Perspectives

3. The Challenge of Global Inequality

4. The Production of Inequality

5. Rights, Equality, and the Nation-State

6. Welfare and Economic Inequality

7. Resistance and Social Organization in an Unequal World

8. Situated Subjects in an Unequal World

Appendix 1: Additional Readings and Films
Appendix 2: Study and Essay Questions
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

Sean T. Mitchell

This highly readable and original volume is an essential addition to the literature on inequality. Providing ethnographic depth and bringing together wide-ranging anthropological perspectives in an area often dominated by economics and political science, McGill shows how inequalities are produced, sustained, challenged, and conceptualized by people worldwide.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a welcome anthropological college textbook on surveying global human inequalities across different world regions, nation-states, and local cultural responses and initiatives. It accessibly discusses a complex and important subject now constantly studied and increasingly debated for creating new inequalities."—R. S. Khare, Anthropos

"Drawing from the fields of anthropology, economics, history, political science, philosophy, and more, McGill weaves together a tapestry to support the book’s overarching argument: inequality is real, there is no primary form of inequality, and inequalities are multiple and overlapping."

—Leo McCann, University of York, Agric. and Human Values, vol 35

This highly readable and original volume is an essential addition to the literature on inequality. Providing ethnographic depth and bringing together wide-ranging anthropological perspectives in an area often dominated by economics and political science, McGill shows how inequalities are produced, sustained, challenged, and conceptualized by people worldwide.—Sean T. Mitchell, Rutgers University

From the Publisher

"Drawing from the fields of anthropology, economics, history, political science, philosophy, and more, McGill weaves together a tapestry to support the book's overarching argument: inequality is real, there is no primary form of inequality, and inequalities are multiple and overlapping."

Agric. and Human Values, vol 35 - Leo McCann

"This is a welcome anthropological college textbook on surveying global human inequalities across different
world regions, nation-states, and local cultural responses and initiatives. It accessibly discusses a complex and
important subject now constantly studied and increasingly debated for creating new inequalities."

R. S. Khare