Inequality and the Future of Canadian Society

An intriguing look at the causes and consequences of income equality ... 

S.D. Clark, the ­first chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto, was one of Canada’s leading sociologists in the middle years of the twentieth century. During the ­ first three decades of his career he analyzed the transformation of successive Canadian frontiers from socially disorganized settlements into organized societies. He then conducted research on how economic change in Canada resulted in inequality as reflected in patterns of residential segrega­tion. The New Urban Poor was the title of Clark’s last book, published nearly 40 years ago. The First S.D. Clark Symposium on the Future of Canadian Society, held in October 2015, picked up where Clark left off by focusing on income inequality—and its implications for tax and gender policy. This volume, edited by Robert Brym, contains the revised proceedings of the symposium. Contributors include Robert Andersen on policies to promote low income inequality and high levels of prosperity; Lars Osberg on how much tax rates on the “1 percent” can be raised; Ito Peng on the ways in which welfare state policy contributes to gender equality and inequality; and Gor­don Cleveland on the role of early childhood education and care in an equality agenda. John Myles and Emily Laxer reflect on the papers, while Robert Brym’s introduction provides an over­view of the subject. The result is a thought-provoking discussion of one of the key social issues of our time.