Inequality Knowledge: The Making of the Numbers about the Gap between Rich and Poor in Contemporary Britain

Felix Römer

Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2024

Inequality Knowledge

The Making of the Numbers about the Gap between Rich and Poor in Contemporary Britain

Felix Römer

Volume 89 in the series Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts London/ Publications of the German Historical Institute London

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111317052

Overview
Contents

About this book

Poverty and inequality have pervaded British society to this day, but this has not always been self-evident to contemporaries – popular understandings have depended on existing knowledge. Inequality Knowledge provides the first detailed history of the numbers about the gap between rich and poor. It shows how they were produced, used, and suppressed at times, and how activists, scientists, and journalists eventually wrestled control over the figures from the state.

The book traces the making and the politics of statistical knowledge about economic inequality in the United Kingdom from the post-war era to the 1990s. What kind of knowledge was available to contemporaries about socio-economic disparities in Britain and how they evolved over time? How was this knowledge produced and by whom? What did policy makers and civil servants know about the extent of poverty and inequality in British society and to what extent did they take the distributional impact of their social and fiscal policies into account?

Far from just a technical matter, inequality knowledge had far-reaching implications for key debates and the wider political culture in contemporary Britain. Historicizing inequality knowledge speaks to a long tradition of historical research about social class divisions and cultural representations of economic disparities in twentieth-century Britain.

Author / Editor information

Felix Römer, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
I Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
II The Emergence of a Global Knowledge Regime Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
III The Post-War Knowledge Regime, 1948–1972 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
IV The Social Democratic Knowledge Regime, 1973–1979 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
V The Rise and Fall of the Thatcherite Knowledge Regime, 1979–1991/ 99 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	252
VI Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	329
List of Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
Index of Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	371

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Audience: Historians (contemporary history and cultural history of modern Britain; social and economic history)
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 377
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 10
Keywords: Income; wealth; poverty; statistics

eBook

Published: November 6, 2023
ISBN: 9783111317052

Hardcover

Published: November 6, 2023
ISBN: 9783111100142