This event marks the launch of Know Your Place: how society sets us up to fail – and what we can do about it, the new book by Faiza Shaheen – part memoir, part polemic, this is a personal and statistical look at how society is built, the people it leaves behind, and what we can do about it.
Our panel of speakers will discuss the prospects for social mobility in Britain today, and how we can create opportunities for all.
Meet our speakers and chair
Kimberly McIntosh (@mcintosh_kim) is a writer and researcher. She has written for a range of publications including The Guardian, the Washington Post, the Independent, the Metro and Vice. She was Senior Policy Officer at The Runnymede Trust, where she worked on issues including the ongoing Windrush scandal, the impact of austerity on BME women and decolonising the curriculum. She is a trustee at Wasafiri magazine, a quarterly British literary magazine. black girl, no magic is her first book.
Faiza Shaheen (@faizashaheen) is Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE and Program Lead on Inequality and Exclusion at the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. Faiza is an economist, activist, and political commentator.
Gary Stevenson (@garyseconomics) is an inequality economist and former trader. In 2011 he became Citibank’s most profitable trader globally after predicting that growing wealth inequality would lead to prolonged economic stagnation. He runs a YouTube and a social media campaign under the name ‘GarysEconomics’, explaining in accessible language the importance of reducing wealth inequality, for the economy and for people’s lives. Gary is a member of the Patriotic Millionaires who argue for more taxes on the rich.
Gary Younge (@garyyounge) is an award-winning author, broadcaster and a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester in England. Formerly a columnist at The Guardian he is an editorial board member of the Nation magazine and the Alfred Knobler Fellow for Type Media. He has written five books, including Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives and The Speech: The Story Behind Martin Luther King’s Dream.
Mike Savage (@MikeSav47032563) is Martin White Professor of Sociology and Wealth, Elites and Tax Justice research programme leader at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. His most recent books include the co-authored Social Class in the 21st Century, and The Return of Inequality: Social Change and the Weight of History.
More about this event
This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.
The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting-edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.
You can order the book Know Your Place: how society sets us up to fail – and what we can do about it (UK delivery only) from our official LSE Events independent book shop, Pages of Hackney.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEIII
Podcast and video
A podcast of this event is available to download from Know Your Place: how society sets us up to fail – and what we can do about it.
A video of this event is available to watch at Know Your Place: how society sets us up to fail – and what we can do about it.
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.