Why do political questions so often boil down to economic issties? Is this healthy? What type of capitalist system is likely to be the most viable in the twenty-first century? Are free-market econor ies inherently unstable and prone to inequality? Are socialist economic models any longer of relevance? What would be the features of an ecologically sustainable economy? Has class conflict in modern societies been resolved or merely suppressed? To what extent has the recognition of racial and gender divisions produced meaningful political change?