Overview

Rising inequality is the defining feature of our age. With the lion’s share of wealth growth going to the top, for a growing percentage of society a middle-class existence is out of reach. What exactly are the economic shifts that have driven the social transformations taking place in Anglo-capitalist societies?    In this timely book, Lisa Adkins, Melinda Cooper and Martijn Konings argue that the rise of the asset economy has produced a new logic of inequality. Several decades of property inflation have seen asset ownership overshadow employment as a determinant of class position. Exploring the impact of generational dynamics in this new class landscape, the book advances an original perspective on a range of phenomena that are widely debated but poorly understood – including the growth of wealth inequalities and precarity, the dynamics of urban property inflation, changes in fiscal and monetary policy and the predicament of the “millennial” generation. Despite widespread awareness of the harmful effects of Quantitative Easing and similar asset-supporting measures, we appear to have entered an era of policy “lock-in” that is responsible for a growing disconnect between popular expectations and institutional priorities. The resulting polarization underlies many of the volatile dynamics and rapidly shifting alliances that dominate today’s headlines.

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9781509543465

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Reviews

Adkins, Cooper and Konings make a timely and persuasive attack on generational and electoral understandings of contemporary class conflict and class reproduction. This is a must read for understanding the politics around the increasingly Minsky-like dynamics of the housing market. Herman Mark Schwartz, University of Virginia In teasing out the logic of the booming asset economy, Lisa Adkins and her co-authors brilliantly update the analysis of class and inequality for the twenty-first century. This outstanding book will prove a vital point of reference to academics, students, and the wider public. Mike Savage, London School of Economics A timely, engaging and important book. If treated with the seriousness it deserves, The Asset Economy should set the agenda for future socio-logical studies of class and inequality concerned with their economic reproduction. Sociology This book offers an important and timely analytical lens by which we can better theorize the growth of contemporary inequality and exploitation. Uneven Earth

Adkins, Cooper and Konings make a timely and persuasive attack on generational and electoral understandings of contemporary class conflict and class reproduction. This is a must read for understanding the politics around the increasingly Minsky-like dynamics of the housing market. Herman Mark Schwartz, University of Virginia In teasing out the logic of the booming asset economy, Lisa Adkins and her co-authors brilliantly update the analysis of class and inequality for the twenty-first century. This outstanding book will prove a vital point of reference to academics, students, and the wider public. Mike Savage, London School of Economics A timely, engaging and important book. If treated with the seriousness it deserves, The Asset Economy should set the agenda for future socio-logical studies of class and inequality concerned with their economic reproduction. Sociology

AAdkins, Cooper and Konings make a timely and persuasive attack on generational and electoral understandings of contemporary class conflict and class reproduction. This is a must read for understanding the politics around the increasingly Minsky-like dynamics of the housing market.A Herman Mark Schwartz, University of Virginia AIn teasing out the logic of the booming asset economy, Lisa Adkins and her co-authors A brilliantly update the analysis of class and inequality for the twenty-first century. This outstanding book will prove a vital point of reference to academics, students, and the wider public.A Mike Savage, London School of Economics AA timely, engaging and important book. If treated with the seriousness it deserves,A The Asset EconomyA should set the agenda for future socio-logical studies of class and inequality concerned with their economic reproduction.A Sociology AThis book offers an important and timely analytical lens by which we can better theorize the growth of contemporary inequality and exploitation.A Uneven Earth Aa highly readable and timely interventionA LSE Review of Books AThe book is an enjoyable read while persuasively and concisely unpacking the very foundations underpinning current societal challenges of inequality. A must read, not only for scholars interested in housing and the political economy of drivers of inequality, but highly recommended for all those implicated in the socio-economic structure it unpacks A in other words, everyone.A International Journal of Housing Policy

This book enhances our understanding of organized political violence in the Middle East. Drawing on a wide range of literatures alongside a comparison of case studies, it highlights the factors driving war and conflict in the region. It is a crucial resource for students interested in these topics. Brent E. Sasley, University of Texas at Arlington Ahram knits together the factors that have trapped the Middle East in violence, capturing the complexities of the region in a straightforward and accessible way. War and Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa is an excellent guide to the region today. Daniel Byman, Georgetown University Ariel Ahram has cleared the conceptual underbrush and introduced a number of important arguments about conflict in the Middle East. My students will be reading this book. If you want a clear-headed primer on the region's many wars, you should read it, too. F. Gregory Gause, III, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University

Adkins, Cooper and Konings make a timely and persuasive attack on generational and electoral understandings of contemporary class conflict and class reproduction. This is a must read for understanding the politics around the increasingly Minsky-like dynamics of the housing market. Herman Mark Schwartz, University of Virginia In teasing out the logic of the booming asset economy, Lisa Adkins and her co-authors brilliantly update the analysis of class and inequality for the twenty-first century. This outstanding book will prove a vital point of reference to academics, students, and the wider public. Mike Savage, London School of Economics A timely, engaging and important book. If treated with the seriousness it deserves, The Asset Economy should set the agenda for future socio-logical studies of class and inequality concerned with their economic reproduction. Sociology This book offers an important and timely analytical lens by which we can better theorize the growth of contemporary inequality and exploitation. Uneven Earth a highly readable and timely intervention LSE Review of Books The book is an enjoyable read while persuasively and concisely unpacking the very foundations underpinning current societal challenges of inequality. A must read, not only for scholars interested in housing and the political economy of drivers of inequality, but highly recommended for all those implicated in the socio-economic structure it unpacks - in other words, everyone. International Journal of Housing Policy Excellent Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic

Author Information

Lisa Adkins is Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney. Melinda Cooper is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Sydney. Martijn Konings is Professor of Political Economy and Social Theory at the University of Sydney.

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