There is little question about the colossal importance of inequality in society today. With huge amounts of wealth concentrated in the hands of a few ‘super-rich’, growing social movements challenging the power wielded by rich elites, and opinion polls demonstrating popular concern with the gaps between the better and worse off, contemporary inequality is of great public and political interest.

However, many important questions continue to be subject to debate. How much inequality is acceptable? Is inequality increasing and, if so, where? What are the consequences of inequality and who is most affected?

Lucinda Platt expertly provides the reader with insights into these debates and with the tools to evaluate the various claims made about the extent and implications of contemporary inequality. Addressing both conceptual issues relating to the meaning of inequality and practical challenges of its measurement, this concise book is a necessary starting point for getting to grips with the defining feature of our times.