Globalization and Inequalities

Sylvia Walby is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and holds the UNESCO Chair in Gender Research, at Lancaster University. She is a 'public sociologist', engaged in research designed to have impact on the world, concerning gender inequality, violence and the economic crisis. The UNESCO Chair in Gender Research Group, led by Walby, who has held the Chair since 2008, focuses on internationally relevant research on gender relations, and on building global networks for research and policy exchange on gender issues. With colleagues, Walby has since 2008 obtained funding from: UK Economic and Social Research Council, Home Office, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Northern Rock Foundation, Trust for London, NSPCC; European Commission, European Parliament, European Institute for Gender Equality, EU Presidency, European Value Added Unit, the Council of Europe; UN Women, UNESCO; the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, and the Canadian Ministry of Justice. Walby was a member of the HEFCE REF2014 sub-panel for Sociology, a Director of the UK National Commission for UNESCO (2011-3), President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 02 Economy and Society (2006-10), founding President of the European Sociological Association (1995-7), and Chair of the Women's Studies Network, UK (1989-90). She has been awarded an OBE for services to equal opportunities and diversity (2008), and made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2008) and of the Royal Society of Arts (1996). Teaching is currently focused on 'violence and society' (undergraduate) and 'gender and violence' (MA).

1. Introduction: Progress and modernities What is Progress? More money or longer life? Progress as a contested project Economic development Equality Human Rights Human development, well-being and capabilities Competing projects: neoliberalism and social democracy Contesting conceptions of progress Multiple Complex Inequalities Multiple and intersecting inequalities Complex inequalities: difference, inequality and progress Modernity? Postmodernity? Not yet Modern? Varieties of Modernity? Modernity or postmodernity? Late, second or liquid modernity? Multiple modernities? Not yet modern? Varieties of modernity Defining modernity Globalization Globalization as the erosion of distinctive and separate societies Resistant to globalization Already global Coevolution of global processes with trajectories of development Implications of globalization for social theory Complexity Theory 2. Theorising multiple social systems Multiple Inequalities and Intersectionality Regimes and Domains System and Its Environment: Over-Lapping, Non-Saturating, Non-Nested Systems Societalisation not Societies Emergence and Projects Bodies, Technologies and the Social Path Dependency Co-evolution of Complex Adaptive Systems in Changing Fitness Landscapes 3. Economies Redefining the Economy Domestic Labour as Labour State Welfare as part of the Economy What are Economic Inequalities? What is Progress in the Economy? From Pre-Modern to Modern: The Second Great Transformation Global Processes and Economic Inequalities What global processes? Country Processes Varieties of Political Economy Varieties of employment relations Varieties of Welfare Provision Critical turning points into varieties of political economy 4. Polities Reconceptualising Types of Polities States Nations Nation-States? Organised religions Empires Hegemon Global political institutions Polities Overlap and do not Politically Saturate a Territory Democracy Democracy and modernity Redefining democracy The development of democracy 5. Violence Developing the Ontology of Violence Modernity and Violence Path Dependency in Trajections of Violence Global 6. Civil societies Theorising Civil Society Modernity and Civil Society Civil Society Projects Global Civil Societies and Waves Examples of waves 7. Regimes of complex inequality Beyond Class Regimes Gender Regimes Ethnic Regimes Further Regimes of Complex Inequalities Disability Sexual orientation Intersecting Regimes of Complex Inequality 8. Varieties of modernity Neoliberal and Social Democratic Varieties of Modernity Path Dependency at the Economy/Polity Nexus? Welfare provision Conclusions on welfare Employment regulation Inequality Conclusions on political economy Path Dependency at the Violence Nexus Modernity and path dependency Indicators Development, inequality and violence Gendered violence Path dependency of the violence nexus in OECD countries Violence, economic inequality and the polity/economy nexus Conclusions on violence Gender Regime Public and domestic gender regimes Development and the public gender regime Domestic and public gender regimes and gender inequality Varieties of public gender regimes Democracy and Inequality 9. Measuring progress Economic Development Equality Economic inequality Global economic inequality Beyond the household Economic inequalities and flows Economic inequalities in summary Inequalities in non-economic domains Democracy Human Rights Human Development, Well-Being and Capabilities Key Indicator Sets: What Indicators; What Underlying Concepts of Progress? Extending the Frameworks and Indicators of Progress: Where do Environmental Sustainability and Violence Fit? Environmental sustainability Violence Achievement of Visions of Progress: Comparing Neoliberalism and Social Democracy Economic development: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Equality: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Human rights: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Human development, well-being and capabilities: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Trade offs or complementary? 10. Comparative paths through modernity: neoliberalism and social democracy Political Economy Violence Gender Transformations: The Emergence of Employed Women as the New Champions of Social Democracy Employed women as the new champions of social democracy Dampeners and Catalysts of Economic Growth: War and Gender Regime Transformations Conclusions 11. Contested futures Financial and Economic Crisis 2007-9 Contesting Hegemons and the Future of the World 12. Conclusions The Challenge of Complex Inequalities and Globalization to Social Theory

In this wide-ranging book, Sylvia Walby deploys her vast knowledge and wealth of research to break from inherited paradigms and to tackle the major challenges of globalization. -- Michael Burawoy What an important book this is! By using the tools complexity theory offers, Walby dismantles the conservative versions of systems theory and provides a new way of approaching the dynamics of intersectional change. Her view of system environment interactions with both stabilizing and destabilizing feedback loops is itself theoretically rich. Walby then uses this model to generate significant insights into the contested nature of modernity and the diverse ways that social democratic and liberal states have constructed equality and inequality. Her theoretical model will prove to be an essential resource for researchers concerned with understanding and steering social change. -- Myra Marx Ferree Though as critical about the feminist critiques of social theory as she is about social theory itself, in this landmark work Sylvia Walby does not stop at outlining the mistakes in both. Aside from unpacking the conflations that hinder our understanding of the social and political world, she presents an intricate, comprehensive new social theory and explains its major premises and innovations carefully and precisely. She focuses on the dynamics and complexities of social relations, integrating in these dynamics the role of complex inequalities (class, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation). Then, as a grand dessert, the book not only delivers a convincing first empirical test to Walby's new theory, but also dares to take a normative position, all without resorting to hegemony... Enabling innovative understandings of age-old complexities through brand-new empirical and normative questions and answers, this book will and should affect all research in social sciences. -- Mieke Verloo Having read her book, one can't help but see what was thought to be clear in new ways. Globalization and Inequalities is an impressive example of creativity realized on the one hand and a provocation to further creativity on the other... A major accomplishment. -- Devorah Kalekin-Fishman An ambitious and complex book, in which Walby proposes solutions for some enduring problems in sociological theory; in particular, problems in theorizing large complex systems, such as whole societies. -- Joan Acker This book is complex, stimulating and insightful and should be read by any scholar who is interested in multiple inequalities on a global scale. It can, at times, seem a little overwhelming, but this is a reflection of its complexity. The book makes an enormous contribution not only to the intersectionality debate, but also encourages the reader to question whether we are yet 'fully modern' and what counts as 'progress'. As Walby argues, we are not yet modern when most states have not yet fully criminalized and delegitimized violence against women and minorities. -- Susan Durbin A tour de force that spans social theory and empirical research, seeks to persuade readers of the explanatory powers of complexity theory for the global era and places gender firmly at the centre of the analysis... Sylvia Walby's impressive study of complex inequalities in our globalized world offers not only a new set of concepts, propositions and empirical evidence, but a vision of the future based on a commitment to equality and justice. For that, we are in her debt. -- Val Moghadam Walby's book offers both an original theory and a discussion of indicators and findings on the basis of which the theory could become fruitful for empirical research. -- Anja Weiss