Choice Review

Economic prosperity and a concomitant expansion of the welfare state were once the hallmarks of the postwar period in the US. Recent global restructuring, however, has significantly changed the way many people live and how the communities are organized. In turn, the welfare state now exacerbates inequalities while the ideology of market capitalism and the actions of political leaders further the interests of capital to the detriment of labor. Liberals offer no solutions and even Marxist critics provide little insight. Such is the argument put forth by Smith in his complex, theoretical analysis of American society since WW II. On the theoretical level, he argues for the primacy of politics in economic and social transformations, and shows the bankruptcy of Marxist, market capitalist, and liberal ideologies that ignore this basic fact. Smith believes in open and contingent historical processes, rather than closed and determinative (read "economic") explanations. On a more practical level, he argues that the welfare state has shifted to mechanisms which hide its regressive effects from political scrutiny. The new inequalities, moreover, have taken both social and spatial forms, heightening class distinctions and generating regional and urban decline. In the end, however, Smith offers neither a replacement ideology nor practical guides to political action. Rather, his contribution is an intricate disassembling of prevailing theoretical and ideological positions. Recommended for university collections. -R. A. Beauregard, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus