The Wealth & Poverty theme presents Dr. Larry Bartels on “Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age” Thursday, Oct. 13, from 1:30-3 p.m. at Walter Hall Rotunda.
Larry M. Bartels
Bartels is Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, where he also serves as Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science.
Bartels also talks about “Political Inequality in Affluent Democracies” on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Alden 319 (co-sponsored with International Development Studies and Political Science).
Bartels holds the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University. He has written extensively on American electoral politics, public opinion, political representation, and public policy in scholarly books and journals and in popular outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Salon, and Vox. His most recent books are Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (with Christopher Achen) and Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (second edition), both published in 2016. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
Abstract: Bartels’s 2008 book Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age was an instant classic, spurring scholarly and popular interest in the political causes and consequences of escalating economic inequality in contemporary America. In a revised version published this fall, Bartels carries the story through the Wall Street meltdown of 2008 and the Great Recession, the rise and fall of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the major policy initiatives of the Obama administration. He offers a sobering account of the barriers to change posed by partisan ideologies and the political power of the wealthy. President Obama identified economic inequality as “the defining challenge of our time.” Bartels provides a definitive account of how and why the American political system has failed to rise to that challenge.
The eminent democratic theorist Robert Dahl argued that “a key characteristic of a democracy” is “the continuing responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens, considered as political equals.” However, a decade of empirical research has documented massive disparities in the apparent responsiveness of American government to the preferences of affluent, middle-class, and poor citizens. Is the United States an outlier among rich democracies due to its polarized political parties, low turnout at the polls, or outsized role of money in politics? Or is political inequality endemic in democratic systems around the world? Bartels addresses these questions by examining the impact of public opinion on social spending and immigration in dozens of contemporary democracies.
Upcoming Wealth & Poverty Events
- Thursday, Oct. 13 – Larry Bartels (Political Science at Vanderbilt University), “Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age,” 1:30-3 p.m. at Walter Hall Rotunda. Watch on A&S TV.
- Thursday, Oct. 13 – Larry Bartels (Political Science at Vanderbilt University), “Political Inequality in Affluent Democracies,” 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Alden 319 (co-sponsored with International Development Studies and Political Science)
- Thursday, Oct. 27 – Max Woodworth (Geography at Ohio State University) on urban design and landscape in China’s frontier settings, 3-4:30 p.m. at Alden 319 (co-sponsored with Asian Studies)
- World Food Day Food Drive Launches Oct. 4, runs through Oct. 31 (in collaboration with Good Works). Collection boxes will be placed in all colleges, departments and buildings across the campus. Email Yeong Kim at kimy1@ohio.edu to have a box or two be placed in your department.
Recommended Events
- Tuesday, Oct. 4 – Documentary Film Screening “Black Girl” 4-5 p.m. at Alden 319
- Friday, Oct. 21 – Jamie Longazel “Undocumented Fears: Immigration and the Politics of Divide and Conquer” 4-5 p.m. at Bentley Annex 007
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