New book for Dr. Patriquin

Congratulations to Dr. Larry Patriquin, professor of Social Welfare and Social Development, on the publication of his book, Economic Equality and Direct Democracy in Ancient Athens (Palgrave Macmillan). In this work, Dr. Patriquin argues against mainstream views, which tend to find an inexplicable paradox between ancient Athens’ extraordinary politics, on the one hand, and its apparent economic inequality, on the other hand. In contrast, he suggests that in the period c.594-323 B.C., Athenian males controlled significant means of production, in particular land, which enabled these relatively independent men to successfully challenge their exclusion from politics.

It is generally agreed that Athens produced the most radical form of democracy in the history of humanity. What is often overlooked, however, is that its radical nature was rooted in an equally radical version of economic parity. The book concludes by suggesting that the key lesson we “moderns” can take from Athens is that some form of economic democracy is a necessary prerequisite for political democracy. “This book offers a most useful and an original contribution to the field – the field being the very broad one of the interrelationship between ‘ancient (Greek)’ and ‘modern’ democracy, and the possible benefits for modern of studying ancient.

It both engages with and takes forward the modern scholarly discussion, principally by redefining and refining the nature of ‘equality’ in the economic as opposed to the political sphere of ancient Athenian democracy.”  - Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow, Clare College, University of Cambridge, UK