It is generally recognized that the quality of democracy depends on citizens having equal access to participation and having their concerns subject to equal consideration.
This book analyzes three sets of challenges to equality related to globalization and the transition to an ”information society”: (1) increasing economic inequality due to intensified international competition and the potential limitations on the redistributive capacity of the welfare state in a global economy; (2) increasing inequality between low- and high educated people due to technological change and increasing complexity of politics; and (3) increasing polarization between people with stable employment and those who are marginalized on the labor market.
Contrary to a society-centered, deterministic view, the book concludes (1) that economic inequality is not inherently linked to the ”information society” or to globalization, but depends on political and political-institutional factors, in particular on welfare state institutions; (2) that there is so far little or no polarization between low- and high educated people in terms of political engagement and political efficacy; and (3) that social and political marginalization among those who are marginalized on the labor market depends more on economic hardship than on their status vis-à-vis the labor market; however, economic hardship among the unemployed is far more widespread than normally expected.
In addition to describing these three aspects of ”new” inequality in a historical and comparative perspective, the book seeks to identify the mechanisms that maintain or undermine equality in society.

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