2023 Events

A Lecture by Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute, Oxfam GB and the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity

Wednesday 6 December 2023

Speaker:
Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados

Mia Amor Mottley became Barbados' eighth and first female Prime Minister on May 25, 2018. Ms Mottley was elected to the Parliament of Barbados in September 1994 as part of the new Barbados Labour Party Government. Prior to that, she served as one of two Opposition Senators between 1991 and 1994. One of the youngest persons ever to be assigned a ministerial portfolio, Ms. Mottley was appointed Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture from 1994 to 2001. She later served as Attorney General and Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados from 2001 to 2008 and was the first female to hold that position.

A Precarious Life
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute and the LSE Law School

Thursday 23 November 2023

Speakers:
Dr Roxana Willis, Assistant Professor of Law, LSE
Professor of Law, Gender and Social Policy; , Visiting Professor of Anthropology, LSE
Professor Mike Savage, Martin White Professor of Sociology, LSE

This event launched Dr Willis' new book, A Precarious Life, which explores how residents of a disadvantaged council estate in the UK manage conflicts with the British state. Through the life of the author's father, Paul, who worked in Corby steelworks until its closure in 1980 and later ran a mobile grocery shop, the book offers insights into class and race tensions in this community. It encourages legal scholars to better understand and engage with the alternative normative order rooted in values such as honesty, relationality, solidarity, and care, which may provide a more comprehensive view of life in over-criminalized estates.

Why the racial wealth divide matters
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute

Wednesday 22 November 2023

Speakers:
Dr Shabna Begum, Interim Co-CEO, The Runnymede Trust
Dr Eleni Karagiannaki, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE and Faculty Associate, LSE III
Professor Vimal Ranchhod, Professor, School of Economics and Deputy Director, SALDRU, University of Cape Town
Faeza Meyer, Founding Member, African Water Commons Collective

Chair:
Professor Mike Savage, Martin White Professor of Sociology, LSE and 'Wealth Elites and Tax Justice' Research Programme Leader, LSE III

There is increasing evidence that wealth assets play a significant role in allowing social mobility advantages to the children of wealthy households. However, it is not widely appreciated that these developments underscore the intensification of racial wealth divides. Although the historical study of the racialised elements of wealth inequality is widely known, with widely appreciated studies of slavery and imperialism, the contemporary racialisation of wealth inequality needs to be much better known. This event presented original research on their findings from the UK, South Africa, and elsewhere.

Good jobs, bad jobs in the UK labour market
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute

Thursday 9 November 2023

Speakers:
Professor Kirsten Sehnbruch, British Academy Global Professor and Distinguished Policy Fellow, LSE III
Sir Stephen Timms MP, Member of Parliament for East Ham and Faith Envoy, Labour Party
Professor James Foster, Oliver T. Carr Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics, George Washington University

Chair:
Professor Vanessa Rubio-Márquez, Associate Dean for Extended Education and Professor in Practice, School of Public Policy, LSE

This event discussed how we can define and measure deprivation in the labour market, by applying a methodology widely used to measure multidimensional poverty, using the UK as a case study.

Jean-Pierre Sainton and the struggle for political independence in the French Caribbean
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute and the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity

Thursday 26th October 2023

Speaker:
Dr Maël Lavenaire, Caribbean and Latin America historian and Research Fellow in Racial Inequality at the LSE International Inequalities Institute

To celebrate Black History Month 2023, Dr Maël Lavenaire presented his research on the fight for political independence in Guadeloupe (French Caribbean), focusing on the work of Caribbean scholar Professor Jean-Pierre Sainton.

The psychosis of whiteness
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute and Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity

Wednesday 25 October 2023

Speakers:
Professor Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies, Birmingham City University
Dr Sara Camacho Felix, Assistant Professor (Education) and Programme Lead, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, LSE III

Chair:
Dr Maël Lavenaire, Research Fellow in Racial Inequality, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, LSE III

In this talk Kehinde Andrews discussed his new book, The psychosis of whiteness, an all-encompassing, insightful and wry look at living in a racist world, by a leading black British voice in the academy and in the media.

The golden passport: global mobility for millionaires
Co-hosted with the Department of Sociology

Tuesday 24 October 2023

Speakers:
Dr Kristin Surak, Associate Professor of Political Sociology at LSE
Thomas Anthony, Chief Executive Officer of the Grenada Citizenship by Investment Unit
Oliver Bullough, author of the Butler to the World: how Britain became the servant of tycoons, tax dodgers, kleptocrats and criminals
Professor Jason Sharman, Sir Patrick Sheehy Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge

Chair:
Professor Mike Savage, Martin White Professor of Sociology at LSE

This event marked the publication of Kristin Surak’s new book, The Golden Passport: global mobility for millionaires, which offers the first on-the-ground investigation of the global market for citizenship by investment.

The life and thought of Dr B R Ambedkar in London
Hosted by LSE Library, the International Inequalities Institute and the Department of Anthropology

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Speakers:
Santosh Dass MBE, Chair of the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance and President of the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK
Sue Donnelly, Former Head of Archives and Special Collections, LSE
Professor William Gould, Professor of Indian History, University of Leeds
Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, Avantha Chair and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology, King’s India Institute, King's College London

Chair:
Tarun Khaitan, Professor of Public Law at the LSE Law School and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School

This event launched Ambedkar in London. Ambedkar was one of India’s greatest intellectuals and social reformers; his political ideas continue to inspire and mobilise some of the world’s poorest and most socially disadvantaged, in India and the global Indian diaspora.

Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute

Tuesday 03 October 2023

Speakers:
Professor Francisco H G Ferreira, Amartya Sen Professor of Inequality Studies and Director of the International Inequalities Institute at LSE
Professor Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Executive Secretary of International Development Economics Associates
Dr José Gabriel Palma, Emeritus Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Administration and Economics of USACH.

Chair:
Dr Faiza Shaheen, Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE and Program Lead on Inequality and Exclusion at the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, NYU.

In July, 2023, over 225 economists and inequality leaders wrote to World Bank President Ajay Banga and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, drawing attention to alarmingly high levels of national and global inequality and the harm this is causing to people across the world. The letter called on the World Bank and UN to strengthen its indicators and goals on inequality urgently to address this dangerous divide.

In this panel discussion, four of the key signatories to the letter discussed in more detail what needs to happen at the UN and the World Bank to redouble efforts to fight inequality.

Know Your Place: how society sets us up to fail – and what we can do about it
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute
Monday 19 June 2023

Speakers:
Dr Faiza Shaheen, Visiting Professor in Practice, LSE III and Program Lead on Inequality and Exclusion, NYU Center on International Cooperation
Kimberly McIntosh, Writer and Researcher
Gary Stevenson, Inequality Economist and former Trader
Professor Gary Younge, Author and Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester

Chair:
Professor Mike Savage, Martin WhiteProfessor of Sociology, LSE Department of Sociology and Research Programme Leader, LSE III

This event marked 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.

What Would a Fairer Society Look Like?
Hosted by LSE Festival: People and Change

Saturday 17 June 2023

Speakers:
Daniel Chandler, Economist and Philosopher, LSE
Dr Ayça Çubukçu, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, LSE
Swatee Deepak, Practitioner in Residence, Marshall Institute, LSE
Lord David Willetts, President of the Resolution Foundation

Chair:
Professor Neil Lee, Professor of Economic Geography, LSE Department of Geography and Environment and Faculty Associate, LSE III

Have inequalities become so entrenched that we can no longer imagine a fairer society? Whilst many are dissatisfied with the status quo, it is surprisingly hard to find a coherent vision of what a better and fairer world would look like. In the Festival’s closing event, leading thinkers put forward their suggestions.

This is Not America: why black lives in Britain matter
Hosted by LSE Festival: People and Change

Saturday 17 June 2023

Speakers:
Tomiwa Owolade, Writer and Critic

Chair:
Professor Mike Savage, Martin White Professor of Sociology LSE Department of Sociology and Research Programme Leader, LSE III

In This is Not America, Tomiwa Owolade argues that too much of the conversation around race in Britain is viewed through the prism of American ideas that don't reflect the history, challenges and achievements of increasingly diverse black populations at home. If we want to build a long-lasting and more effective anti-racist agenda - one that truly values black British communities - we must acknowledge that crucial differences exist between Britain and America; that we are talking about distinct communities and cultures, distinguished by language, history, class, religion and national origin.

Can people change the world? Activists, social movements, and utopian futures
Hosted by LSE Festival: People and Change

Saturday 17 June 2023

Speakers:
Dr Armine Ishkanian, Associate Professor, LSE Department of Social Policy and Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, LSE III
Dr Faiza Shaheen, Visiting Professor in Practice, LSE III and Program Lead on Inequality and Exclusion, NYU Center on International Cooperation
Georgia Haddad Nicolau, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and Co-founder and Director of Instituto Procomum

Chair:
Dr Maël Lavenaire, Research Fellow in Racial Inequality at the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, LSE III

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, inequality is on the rise, but so is grassroots activism. More and more individuals and groups are taking action and using their voices to tackle the growing social and economic inequalities. Looking beyond just forms of resistance, this panel discussed the role of activists and social movements in today’s world and examine their agency in imagining utopian futures and creating change.

Black Ghost of Empire: failed emancipations, reparations, and Maroon ecologies
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute

Wednesday 7 June 2023

Speaker:
Professor Kris Manjapra, Professor, Department of History, Tufts University

Chair:
Professor Alpa Shah, Professor of Anthropology, LSE Department of Anthropology and Research Programme Leader, LSE III

To understand why the shadow of slavery haunts us today, we must confront the way that it ended. In this public event Kris Manjapra considered the implications of his book, Black Ghost of Empire, for climate justice. The book argues that during each of the supposed emancipations from slavery – whether Haiti after the revolution, the British Empire in 1833 or the United States during the Civil War – Black people were dispossessed by the moves meant to free them. Emancipation codified existing racial-colonial hierarchies - rather than obliterating them, with far-reaching consequences for climate colonialism and for environmental justice.

Domestic Mobilities and Colonial Legacies: A Colloquium
Hosted by LSE International Inequalities Institute and LSE Department of International History

Thursday 1 June 2023

Speakers:
Professor Victoria Haskins, University of Newcastle, Australia
Associate Professor Claire Lowrie, University of Wollongong, Australia
Professor Swapna Banerjee, CUNY (Brooklyn College and Graduate Center), USA

Chair:
Dr Shalini Grover, Research Fellow, LSE III

In this special colloquium, three historians presented highlights from their current research from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project, Ayahs and Amahs: Transcolonial Servants in Australia and Britain 1780-1945. They addressed the legacies – archival and cultural – of this history that continue to reverberate in our world today.

Uncomfortably off: Why the top 10% of earners should care about inequality
Hosted by the Department of Social Policy and the International Inequalities Institute

Wednesday 31 May 2023

Speakers:
Dr Marcos González Hernando, Honorary Research Fellow, UCL Social Research Institute
Dr Gerry Mitchell,Social Researcher, Campaigner and Community Activist
Anook Chakelian, Britain Editor, the New Statesman
Dr Arun Advani, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Warwick and Visiting Senior Fellow, LSE III

Chair:
Dr Tania Burchardt, Associate Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and Associate Professor, LSE Department of Social Policy

This event launched Uncomfortably Off: Why the Top 10% of Earners Should Care about Inequality, (Policy Press), which explains why, even if you are relatively near the top, it is in your interest that inequality is reduced.

Patriarchy: where did it all begin?
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute and the Wollstonecraft Society

Wednesday 24 May 2023

Speakers:
Angela Saini, Journalist and Author
Bee Rowlatt, Author and Programmer of Events, Wollstonecraft Society

Chair:
Professor Alpa Shah, Professor of Anthropology, LSE Department of Anthropology and Research Programme Leader, LSE III

For the 2023 Wollstonecraft Society Lecture, Angela Saini read from her hotly-anticipated book The Patriarchs.  Travelling to the world’s earliest known human settlements, and tracing cultural and political histories from the Americas to Asia, she overturns simplistic universal theories to show that what patriarchy is and how far it goes back really depends on where you are.

Of Boys and Men: New challenges for gender equality
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute

Thursday 23 March 2023

Speakers:
Dr Richard V. Reeves, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and Director of the Future of the Middle Class Initiative, Brookings Institution
Dr Abigail McKnight, Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), LSE

Chair:
Professor Nicola Lacey, School Professor of Law, Gender and Social Policy, LSE Law School

Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have left many men at a disadvantage in areas like higher education. Many previous attempts to treat this condition have made the same fatal mistake - of viewing the problems of men as a problem with men. In his new book, Richard V Reeves explores how the male malaise is the result of deep structural challenges and societal issues. Richard draws on a careful analysis of social, economic, and demographic trends; current discussions on gender in psychology, public policy, economics and sociology; as well as on interviews with men and women, girls and boys.

What Should Fiscal and Social Policy in a Sustainable Economy Look Like?
Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute

Tuesday 31 January 2023

Speakers:
Ed Miliband MP, Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero
Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill
Dr Miatta Fahnbulleh, Chief Executive, New Economics Foundation
Dr Andy Summers, Associate Professor of Law, LSE Law School

Chair:
Professor Tony Travers, Director of LSE London

This panel explored the work of the Tribune Group of Members of Parliament, who worked with experts from LSE and other organisations to propose new Labour Party policy in three priority areas: active government; climate security; and strong communities.