During the 1930's, 23 million peasants left their villages and moved to Soviet cities, where they comprised almost half the urban population and more than half the nation's industrial workers. Drawing on previously inaccessible archival materials, David L. Hoffmann shows how this massive migration to the cities an influx unprecedented in world history had major consequences for the nature of the Soviet system and the character of Russian society even today.Hoffmann focuses on events in Moscow between the launching of the industrialization drive in 1929 and the outbreak of war in 1941. He reconstructs the attempts of Party leaders to reshape the social identity and behavior of the millions of newly urbanized workers, who appeared to offer a broad base of support for the socialist regime. The former peasants, however, had brought with them their own forms of cultural expression, social organization, work habits, and attitudes toward authority. Hoffmann demonstrates that Moscow's new inhabitants established social identities and understandings of the world very different from those prescribed by Soviet authorities. Their refusal to conform to the authorities' model of a loyal proletariat thwarted Party efforts to construct a social and political order consistent with Bolshevik ideology. The conservative and coercive policies that Party leaders adopted in response, he argues, contributed to the Soviet Union's emergence as an authoritarian welfare state."

The state of Kerala in southern India is notable for the ways in which lower-class mobilization and state intervention have combined to create one of the most successful cases of social and redistributive development in the Third World. In contrast to predictions that labor militancy in developing countries threatens to overload fledgling democratic institutions and derail economic growth, The Labor of Development shows that the political and economic inclusion of industrial and agricultural workers in Kerala set the stage for a democratically negotiated capitalist transformation.When compared to the other Indian states, Kerala's departure from the national pattern is tied to its history of social movements and highlights the significance of understanding sub-national patterns of democratic consolidation and state building. The case of Kerala provides important theoretical insights into the circumstances under which the expansion of political and social citizenship can become the basis for managing economic change. Using examples from agriculture, industry, and the informal sector, Patrick Heller examines the institutional and political dynamics through which the demands of organized labor and the imperatives of capitalist growth have evolved from a period of open conflict and stagnation to one of class compromise. He also demonstrates that the Kerala model has broad ramifications for understanding the relationship between substantive democracy and market economies in low-income countries.

"A brilliantly clear and concise guide. Highly recommended." - Ben Chu Economic inequality in the UK is currently at historically high levels and the rise in income inequality over the last 30 years is one of the largest across developed nations. But what caused this sustained increase in inequality and what does it mean for modern society in the UK? In this book, Economist Mike Brewer discusses the causes and consequences of these high levels of economic inequality, outlining why the UK became so unequal in the 1980s and how this has developed further since the 2008 financial crash and the austerity that followed. Brewer then presents new analysis of the top 1% and 0.1%, before assessing the relevance of Thomas Piketty's landmark work and predictions around wealth inequalities. The author then outlines six key areas that need addressing to move the UK off its high-inequality path and towards a fairer society, including wealth redistribution, social mobility, and excessive pay at the top. ABOUT THE SERIES: The 'What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...?' series offers readers short, up-to-date overviews of key issues often misrepresented, simplified or misunderstood in modern society and the media. Each book is written by a leading social scientist with an established reputation in the relevant subject area. The Series Editor is Professor Chris Grey, Royal Holloway, University of London

The City of Cape Town is a place of contrasts, the legacy of apartheid having left a distinct make-up. Yet the challenges confronting the contemporary city are notably aggravated by modern-day factors such as increasing unemployment and poverty.

In this timely work, Mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille and Craig Kesson, the city’s Director of Policy and Strategy, confront some of the issues of governance: how can the city help overcome social and physical segregation; how can the government live up to the promises made to South Africans; and how can the city function and heal within these limitations?

"I’ve seen firsthand the progress Cape Town has made under Mayor De Lille. Successes in one city often spreads to others, and this book provides a valuable guide for how, with a bit of motivated and dynamic leadership, cities can lead the way on the most important issues of our day.” Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and former mayor of New York City

"A brilliantly clear and concise guide. Highly recommended." - Ben Chu Economic inequality in the UK is currently at historically high levels and the rise in income inequality over the last 30 years is one of the largest across developed nations. But what caused this sustained increase in inequality and what does it mean for modern society in the UK? In this book, Economist Mike Brewer discusses the causes and consequences of these high levels of economic inequality, outlining why the UK became so unequal in the 1980s and how this has developed further since the 2008 financial crash and the austerity that followed. Brewer then presents new analysis of the top 1% and 0.1%, before assessing the relevance of Thomas Piketty's landmark work and predictions around wealth inequalities. The author then outlines six key areas that need addressing to move the UK off its high-inequality path and towards a fairer society, including wealth redistribution, social mobility, and excessive pay at the top. ABOUT THE SERIES: The 'What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...?' series offers readers short, up-to-date overviews of key issues often misrepresented, simplified or misunderstood in modern society and the media. Each book is written by a leading social scientist with an established reputation in the relevant subject area. The Series Editor is Professor Chris Grey, Royal Holloway, University of London

A Companion to Border Studies introduces an exciting and expanding field of interdisciplinary research, through the writing of an international array of scholars, from diverse perspectives that include anthropology, development studies, geography, history, political science and sociology. * Explores how nations and cultural identities are being transformed by their dynamic, shifting borders where mobility is sometimes facilitated, other times impeded or prevented * Offers an array of international views which together form an authoritative guide for students, instructors and researchers * Reflects recent significant growth in the importance of understanding the distinctive characteristics of borders and frontiers, including cross-border cooperation, security and controls, migration and population displacements, hybridity, and transnationalism

A collection of stories-some well known, some more obscure- capturing some of the best storytelling of this golden age of nonfiction. An anthology of the best new masters of nonfiction storytelling, personally chosen and introduced by Ira Glass, the producer and host of the award-winning public radio program "This American Life." These pieces-on teenage white collar criminals, buying a cow, Saddam Hussein, drunken British soccer culture, and how we know everyone in our Rolodex-are meant to mesmerize and inspire.

"This is a book that should be read by anyone interested in class, inequality, poverty and politics. Actually, probably more importantly it should be read by people who think that those things do not matter! It provides a wonderful summation of the huge amount of work on these topics that now exists and it also offers its own distinctive perspectives on a set of issues that are - despite the claims of some influential commentators - still central to the sociological enterprise and, indeed to political life." - Roger Burrows, University of York "A clear and compelling analysis of the dynamics of social and spatial inequality in an era of globalisation. This is an invaluable resource for students and scholars in sociology, human geography and the social sciences more generally." - Gary Bridge, University of Bristol With the declining attention paid to social class in sociology, how can we analyze continuing and pervasive socio-economic inequality? What is the impact of recent developments in sociology on how we should understand disadvantage? Moving beyond the traditional dichotomies of social theory, this book brings the study of social stratification and inequality into the 21st century. Starting with the widely agreed 'fact' that the world is becoming more unequal, this book brings together the 'identity of displacement' in sociology and the 'spaces of flow' of geography to show how place has become an increasingly important focus for understanding new trends in social inquality.

This book is a twist on the current discourse around 'inclusivity' and 'widening participation'. Higher education is welcoming students from diverse educational, social, and economic backgrounds, and yet it predominantly employs middle-class academics. Conceptually, there appears, on at least these grounds alone, to be a cultural and class mismatch. This work discusses empirical interviews with tenured academics from a working-class heritage employed in one UK university. Interviewees talk candidly about their childhood backgrounds, their school experiences, and what happened to them after leaving compulsory education. They also reveal their experiences of university, both as students and academics from their early careers to the present day. This book will be of interest to an international audience that includes new and aspiring academics who come from a working-class background themselves. The multifaceted findings will also be relevant to established academics and students of sociology, education studies and social class.