DIGCLASS seminar series: 1st session on the roots of inequality

This presentation will argue that, through our evolved psychology, material differences provide the foundations of class and status hierarchies - that material differences give rise to social distances. Rather than discussing systems of social class classification, Richard Wilkinson will suggest that the key issue is how far apart the various social strata are, and that this is determined by the scale of material differences. He will show that whether a society has larger or smaller inequalities has profound effects on the nature of social relations in a society.  

Speaker

Richard Wilkinson studied economic history and the philosophy of science at the London School of Economics before training in epidemiology. He is now Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham Medical School, Honorary Professor at University College London and Visiting Professor at the University of York.  Since his initial research focused on health inequalities, his books and research papers have drawn attention to the tendency for societies with bigger income differences between rich and poor to suffer a heavier burden of health and social problems. Two of his books have been the subject of documentary films – The Great Leveller (for the Channel 4 TV’s Equinox series broadcast in 1996) was based on his Unhealthy Societies. The Divide (based on The Spirit Level) was released in April 2016 (available on Netflix). The Spirit Level, written with Kate Pickett is now in 24 languages. It won the 2011 Political Studies Association Publication of the Year Award and the 2010 Bristol Festival of Ideas Prize. His first TED talk ‘How economic inequality harms societies’ has been watched over 4 million times, and his second, ‘The link between inequality and anxiety’ has been viewed almost 2 million times in the last two years.  Richard has received Solidar’s Silver Rose Award, the Irish Cancer Society’s Charles Cully Memorial medal, and was The Australian Society for Medical Research’s medallist of the year in 2017. He and Kate Pickett published their latest book, called The Inner Level, in 2018.

DIGCLASS Seminar Series

The DIGCLASS seminar series is expected to facilitate the exchange of cutting-edge ideas and debates related to social inequality, labour economics and political economy between JRC researchers and beyond by attracting external scholars, policy-makers and a general audience.

Visit the DIGCLASS website to check the full programme!

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