Dear colleagues,

The email below is from Rodolfo Torres of University of California-Irvine.
If you are interested, please respond directly to him by email at
[log in to unmask]

From: Rodolfo Torres <[log in to unmask]>

Dear Colleagues:

I am seeking a co-editor for a proposed book on class and inequality in the
US. Several publishers have expressed interest in the book idea. I am
prepared to go ahead on my own, but would really like to work with one or
two other colleagues with an interest in class analysis. I would also
consider a more comparative volume --US>UK if we go with Polity. I am
currently completing a book with Polity on racism and class analysis--the
editor at Polity is interested in a continued association.

Rodolfo D. Torres
Professor of Urban Planning
Department of Planning, Policy & Design
University  of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
(949) 824-1873


WORKING DRAFT July 2005
Class, Inequality, and Alternative Futures
Editor is currently in discussions with the following Publishers:
Polity Press (UK)
Routledge (USA)
The New Press (USA)

All three publishers above have expressed interest in reviewing a proposal
from the editor. Editor is requesting the submission of original papers,
although, a revised version of a previously published article will be
considered.

Class theory, the center of sociological debate and political discourse in
the 1970's and early 1980's as recently emerged in mainstream academic
discourse and theoretical debate. This renewed interest in class and class
analysis will be the focus of the proposed volume.

US history is marked by cycles of denying class divisions. The idea of class
in America has been a contested discourse from the forming of the nation to
the Gilded Age. When it comes to inequality in the current period, America
has no equal, so says The Economist. Between 1979 and 2000, real income
of households in the lowest fifth grew by 6.4%, while that of households in
the top fifth grew by 70%. The family income of the top 1% grew by 
184%-and that of the top 0.1% or 0.01% grew even faster. Back in 1979 the 
average income of the top 1% was 133 times that of the bottom 20%; by 2000
the income of the top 1% had risen to 189 times that of the bottom fifth.

Over the last two decades the US has experienced growth in both low-wage and
high-wage work, with a relative decline in the middle. Thus, it's not a
question, whether inequalities exist-everyone agrees they do and as recent 
reports indicate income inequality may even be widening. The question is 
whether these trends in increasing inequality can be traced back to one 
source --class. There is certainly evidence that new forms of global 
economic relations have emerged, but the claim by some that this reordered 
economy has rendered class analysis and class politics obsolete will be 
the subject of proposed interrogation and scrutiny.

Michael D. Yates in a recent issue of Monthly Review (April 2005) reminds us
that this increasing inequality is in large part a function of class
struggle. Thomas Frank's highly acclaimed What's the Matter with Kansas? 
How Conservatives Won the Heart of America offers an insightful counter 
narrative to the "class is dead" discourse. He calls for a renewed class 
politics and a New Deal for the 21st century.

Manuscripts that explore the spatial implications of class inequality are
especially welcome. Theoretical as well as empirically driven pieces will be
of special interest to the editor. We are especially interested in 
manuscripts that offer an analysis of the impact of market economies (with 
its massive economic disparities) on families living and working in the 
United States. A unique feature of the volume will be its It will consider 
how the demographic transition and the 'post-industrial' transformation of 
urban functions and space interact to shape and reproduce socio-economic 
inequalities. The volume will conclude with essays on the limits and 
possibilities democratic economic reform and alternative
futures.

The editor welcomes papers on the following topics and beyond. The list is
only suggestive and the editor will consider other topics/themes related to
class and inequality in the US.

. Does Class Matter?
. Class Politics in/and the US Labor Movement
. Ethnic Politics as Class Politics?
. Has Consumption replaced Class?
. From Production to Consumption? A New Politics of Meaning
. Crisis of Class Critique?
. Class, Inequality, and Schooling
. The New York Times on Class: A Critical Commentary
. Does Inequality Matter?
. Immigration and Class Analysis
. Social Capital: A Class Critique
. Class as a Method
. Mapping Class in Capitalist America
. Equity and Efficiency: A Trade-Off?
. A Promising Future of Class Analysis or the Death of Class?
. Toward a Postmodern Class Politics?

Editor:

Rodolfo D. Torres is professor of urban planning, political science, and
comparative Latino studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is
author of Latino Metropolis (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), After
Race (New York University Press, 2004), and Savage State: Welfare
Capitalism and Inequality (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004). He has also
edited eight books on topics such as immigration (Routledge) , racism and
citizenship (Blackwell), social movements (Routledge), and Latino and
Chicano politics (Rowman and Littlefield). He is co-editor of the Journal
of Urban Affairs published by Blackwell and US editor of Ethnicities
published by Sage (UK).

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