What are the political causes of rising income inequality in the USA?

Topic 

What are the political causes of rising income inequality in the USA?

Instructions 

Part A (Document 1): Planning the essay

Students will write a plan for their essay. The following must be included:

  1. The essay question chosen
  2. A brief account of how you intend to address the question, e.g. what your basic line of argument might be, what theoretical framework/ concepts you might use, what sort of evidence you may consider, etc. You should also briefly indicate why the texts you have chosen for your reading list help you to answer the question in the way you suggest. (500 words)
  3. A list of at least 9 SCHOLARLY sources you intend to read, presented as a bibliography, properly formatted according to School regulations (see the Undergraduate Handbook); incorrectly formatted work will be penalised. ‘Scholarly’ means books, book chapters, and journal articles; sources from reputable non-governmental organisations, government agencies, think-tanks, etc, are also permissible. Popular sources like newspapers, websites, etc, do not count towards the eight sources, though you may include them in addition to the eight if you wish.

Answer Preview 

The decline of Union Power

Labor unions take a central role in bargaining for higher wages for workers, hence contributing to equality in income. Over the years, the US labor structure has massively benefitted from the labor unions. Nevertheless, the trend has changed in the last four decades. The primary reason for the trend is the changing political landscape in the US (Chang and Hung, 2016). Different regimes have come up with various strategies that have negatively impacted the labor unions. Currently, the share of employees represented by trade unions has dropped by half to merely over 10% over the last forty years. The trend has resulted in trade unions’ reduced power to bargain for higher wages and benefits. For instance, the Taft-Hartley Act has, over the years, been repealed to accommodate the various needs of the regimes (Milkman, 2013). The step has been detrimental to the activities of the labor unions considering that most presidents have used the act to restrict labor unions’ operations. For instance, President Lyndon Johnson’s administration relied on state-level right-to-work legislation of the Act to curtail the efforts of labor unions to fight for workers (Milkman, 2013). Therefore, as much as labor unions existed, their activities were crucially limited.

Word Count: 2200