LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0 - Highlights from PBS

Nihan Albayrak wins the LSE Festival Popular Prize

On Friday 23 February 2018, PhD candidate Nihan Albayrak was awarded the LSE Festival Popular Prize for her work on the ways in which we help the victims of global disasters.

You can read the entire abstract on the LSE Festival website.

You can find out more about Nihan's research on the PBS website.

Identity and the Welfare State

On Monday 19 Feburary, PhD student Celestin Okoroji took part in a panel discussion, chaired by Dr Jennifer Sheehy Skeffington, to consider two challenges to welfare state solidarity. 

First up, social policy expert Peter Dwyer and social psychologist Celestin Okoroji presented evidence from very different projects looking at the experiences of those receiving benefits in the context of greater demands for compliant behaviours and worsening stereotypes of the ‘welfare recipient’. Second, policy writer David Goodhart and social psychologist Xenia Chryssochoou offered contrasting perspectives on whether greater diversity in the national population poses a challenge for the sense of collective solidarity needed to sustain the welfare state.

Listen to this discussion via the LSE Podcast

Highlight from #LSEBeveridge on Twitter 

@BaronDenise

.@CellyRanks: narratives about the unemployed are often constructed by those in power, such as the description of the “something for nothing” culture by Cameron, leading to a social representation of the unemployed as “scroungers” 

Is Higher Education Good for You?

On Wednesday 21 February, PBS Head of Department Professor Paul Dolan led a debate on the opinion splitting topic of higher education, along with Lord Willetts and chaired by Julia Black. This discussion was held against the backdrop of increasing evidence from the UK and US to show that higher education is associated with less happiness and more inequality.

This topic proved to spark as much commentary as you might expect with long debate taking place on Twitter via #LSEBeveridge.

Listen to the entire debate via the LSE podcast or watch the video.

Highlights from #LSEBeveridge on Twitter

@alicehoopler

Are we addicted to success at the expense of happiness? Should we focus more on ‘just enough’ vs ‘more please’. @profpauldolan questions whether higher education is really good for you with Lord Willetts #LSEBeveridge

@kirstywadsley

We can get addicted to wealth and success and education. We are craving too much of these things. Interesting point in current climate #LSEFestival #LSEBeveridge @profpauldolan

@ellenaustin

I don't think it should matter whether your tertiary education is called university, technical school, community college - it should matter that a kid from Kensington and a kid from Hull has the same probability of going to either. That's just not the case right now #LSEBeveridge

What's Love Got to Do With It?

On Saturday 24 February, Professor Paul Dolan took the stage again, this time to discuss the giant issue of loneliness. He spoke about what kind of relationships are fundamental to our wellbeing, and how we as individuals decide on how to 'make or break' relationships. He also raised the issues around the influence of social policies such as encouraging mariage and discouraging divorce.

Listen to this discussion via the LSE podcast

Highlights from #LSEBeveridge on Twitter

@NicoleVotruba

Policy makers have really neglected loneliness. @profpauldolan on the societal relevance of love and #wellbeing @LSEpublicevents #mentalhealth #lsebeveridge 

@nihanalb

@profpauldolan explains the relationship between #marriage & misery in his talk at the #LSEFestival. #LSEBeveridge [Image link]

Who Belongs? Can we Afford to be Different?

On Saturday 24 February, PhD students Brett Heasman and Celestin Okoroji, with Professor Bev Skeggs, Dr Jana Uher, chaired by Dr Sunil Kumar, took part in a panel discussion to address the issues around the rights, recognition and participation of diverse groups of people in the UK over the past 30 years. Despite advances, the current political climate is characterised by sharp divisions in attitudes to the long-term direction of the country. Brett Heasman discussed his research on autism (more here) and highlighted that we need to question the ways in which inequality became institutionalised.

Listen to this discussion via the LSE podcast

Highlight from #LSEBeveridge Twitter

@Brett_Heasman

Awesome to bring silent applause to our public #LSEBeveridge event about #diversity where I spoke about #autism. Everyone got to be part of an inclusive act and had fun doing so. Seems some norms are easy to change, just ask. Thank you everyone!