Unequal and Unrepresented: Political Inequality and the People’s Voice in the New Gilded Age

This meticulously researched volume by a trio of political scientists uses a heavy concentration of statistics to support the unsurprising conclusion that participants in today’s politics who have more money get more say in the discussion. The authors argue that wealth has never been more concentrated, creating a new Gilded Age in which the rich, white, pro-business actors who want to push their agendas have better access to and an easier familiarity with the political participation process. Their findings are supported by reams of data, with dozens of graphs plotting trends such as the decline of unions and the racial makeup of politically engaged social media users. This is not a book to drive activists to the barricades—the authors are clearly writing for an academic audience, making frequent use of jargon—but it is a valuable scholarly tool and a carefully constructed compilation of empirical evidence to support an argument whose conclusions are, as the authors write, “not especially encouraging.” (June)