A Historical Perspective

Inequality. The Issue of Our Time

In this episode:

We introduce a virtual symposium of academics, students and practitioners who believe inequality is the issue of our time. We draw expert opinions of those from King’s College London, the London School of Economics and the University of Sydney. Inequality is a compelling problem that shows us the urgent need to find a solution through these dialogues. This episode looks at the importance of contextualizing inequality. And we do this through discussion of Thomas Picketty’s book “Capital in the 21st Century,” and Mike Savage’s cutting-edge book, “The Return of Inequality.” Inequality takes many forms. We combine understandings of the weight of history with the economic frames of income and wealth inequality and do this to recognize the conditions that create and reproduce inequality between groups in society.

About this series:
This three-part series of dialogues is led by Dr. Johnna Montgomerie, Professor of International Political Economy, at Kings College London. In this virtual symposium, we’ve called on experts from the politics of inequality working group at King's College, London, and sought out our colleagues at other universities to share their ideas, research, and proposals to help explain what it means to call inequality issue of our time. We wanted to examine who was unequal, what causes inequality and why it's an urgent area of study.

Key Contributors:

We’re an interdisciplinary team across King’s College London (@KCL), University of Sydney (@Sydney_Uni), London School of Economics (@LSEInequalities) and Progressive Economics Forum (@PEF_online).

Kings College London:

• Prof. Johnna Montgomerie, Professor of International Political Economy at Kings College London. Follow @j_montgomerie. Johnna's book: Should we Abolish Household Debt?
• Dr. Steven Klein - Lecturer in Political Theory at Kings College London. Follow: @stevenmklein
• Dr. Lee Savage - Senior Lecturer in European Politics at King’s College London. Follow: @TheLMSavage
• Dr. James Wood, University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Hall. Follow: @thinkwoodis

Progressive Economy Forum:

• Prof. Sue Konzelmann Professor of Economics at Birbeck University.
• Dr. James Meadway - Director, Progressive Economy Forum. Follow: @meadwaj
• Prof. Martin O'Neil - Professor in Political Philosophy, University of York. Follow @martin_oneill @UoYPhilosophy
• Prof. Jan Toporowski - Professor of Economics and Finance. Follow @SOASEconomics
• PEF’s book: The Return of the State: Restructuring Britain for the Common Good

London School of Economics:

• Professor. Mike Savage, Martin White Professor of Sociology at LSE. Mike's book: The Return of Inequality
• Dr. Luna Glucksberg, Research Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute, LSE. Follow @luna_inequality
• Dr. Joseph SpoonerAssociate Professor at Law, LSE. Follow @jtspooner

University of Sydney:

• Prof. Lisa Adkins, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sydney. Follow: @AdkinsProf
• Prof. Martijn Konings - Professor of Political Economy and Social Theory at the University of Sydney.
• Their book: The Asset Economy

Key Texts:

• Capital in the Twenty-First Century – Thomas Picketty 2013
• Capital and Ideology – Thomas Picketty 2019
• The Asset Economy - Lisa Adkins, Melinda Cooper, Martijn Konings
• The Return of Inequality Social Change and the Weight of the Past - Mike Savage
• The Return of the State: Restructuring Britain for the Common Good - Edited by Patrick Allen, Suzanne J. Konzelmann, Jan Toporowski
• Should we Abolish Household Debt? - Johnna Montgomerie 2019