How has globalization changed social inequality? Why do Americans die younger than Europeans, despite larger incomes? Is there an alternative to neoliberalism? Who are the champions of social democracy? Why are some countries more violent than others? In this groundbreaking book, Sylvia Walby examines the many changing forms of social inequality and their intersectionalities at both country and global levels. She shows how the contest between different modernities and conceptions of progress shape the present and future. The book re-thinks the nature of economy, polity, civil society and violence. It places globalization and inequalities at the centre of an innovative new understanding of modernity and progress and demonstrates the power of these theoretical reformulations in practice, drawing on global data and in-depth analysis of the US and EU. Walby analyses the tensions between the different forces that are shaping global futures. She examines the regulation and deregulation of employment and welfare; domestic and public gender regimes; secular and religious polities; path dependent trajectories and global political waves; and global inequalities and human rights.

Table of Contents:
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