In this book, apparently inexplicable shifts in the conventional wisdom and the accompanying policy paradigm are explored against the historical backdrop since the second industrial revolution. In this context, inequality, poverty, free market capitalism and the welfare state have interacted in an uneasy, dynamic dance - the "insecurity cycle".

Suzanne J. Konzelmann is a Reader in Management at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. She is also Director of the London Centre for Corporate Governance and Ethics, Co-Executive Editor of the Cambridge Journal of Economics and a Research Associate in the Cambridge University Centre for Business Research.

Simon Deakin is a Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is also Director of the Cambridge University Centre for Business Research, Co-Chair of the University's Strategic Research Initiative in Public Policy, and a Fellow of Peterhouse. He is Editor in Chief of the Industrial Law Journal and a member of the editorial board of the Cambridge Journal of Economics.

Marc Fovargue-Davies is a Research Associate with the London Centre for Corporate Governance and Ethics, Birkbeck, University of London, UK. Formerly a strategic marketing consultant and brand development specialist, he is also a freelance journalist, specialising in socio-economic issues, politics and yachting.

Frank Wilkinson is Emeritus Reader in Economics at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is also Founding Editor of the Cambridge Journal of Economics and a Research Associate in the Cambridge University Centre for Business Research.

Preface and Acknowledgments, Chapter 1: Introduction, Chapter 2: The Influence of the Legal and Institutional Framework, Chapter 3: The Economy and Society Diverge - Setting up the Insecurity Cycle, Chapter 4: The State Steps in - and then back out again, Chapter 5: More Problems with Capitalism - but new ideas are slow to gain traction, Chapter 6: A Change of Ideology - But Capital Undermines Keynes, Chapter 7: Keynes versus "Keynesianism" - Liberalism Resurrected, Chapter 8: Neoliberalism Entrenched, Chapter 9: The 2008 Financial Crisis - A crisis of neoliberalism or just another financial crisis?, Chapter 10: Britain and the European Union, Chapter 11: Conclusions - When might the insecurity move again?, References, Index