This collection brings together leading thinkers on human beings in
urban spaces and inequalities therein. The contributors eschew
conceptual confusion between equality -- of opportunity, of access, of
the right to compete for whatever goal one chooses to pursue -- and
levelling. The discussions develop in the belief that old and emerging
forms of inequality in urban settings need to be understood in depth, as
does the machinery that, as masterfully elucidated by Hannah Arendt,
operates behind oppression to sustain power and inequality.
Anthropologists and fellow ethnographically-committed social scientists
examine socio-economic, cultural and political forms of urban inequality
in different settings, helping to address comparatively these dynamics.