Welfare & Inequality

“If we’re not out in public, then we’re not negotiating difference”: Interview with Sophie Watson

anyapearson2November 18, 2020

Sophie Watson is Professor of Sociology at the Open University. Her research tackles feminist theory, cities and the politics of public space. Her book City Pu...

CoronavirusInterviewsUKWelfare & Inequality6 min read

Flatlining social mobility is a bug, not a feature, of meritocratic societies

Toby YoungJuly 2, 2020

Is meritocracy an effective device for legitimising socioeconomic inequality?My father Michael Young’s objection to meritocracy was rooted in his belief in...

CommentEducationWelfare & Inequality9 min read

The illusion of meritocracy damages young people – and sanctions inequality

Diane ReayJune 15, 2020

The illusion of meritocracy at school inflicts damage on children and young people – particularly those from working class backgrounds. More than that, meritoc...

CommentEducationUKWelfare & Inequality7 min read

The Labour party and Antisemitism: A crisis misunderstood

David Feldman, Ben Gidley and Brendan McGeeverMay 29, 2020

Antisemitism and the Labour party has rarely been out of the UK’s political headlines in the UK since 2016. Yet as we argue in our new article in the Political...

Long ReadsUKWelfare & Inequality7 min read

India’s post-coronavirus transition won’t be easy. Here’s why.

Debadrita ChakrabortyMay 27, 2020

A new world order awaits us on the other side of the pandemic. As we wait out this storm of uncertainty and possibility in our small pockets of isolation, the ...

CommentCoronavirusInternational politicsWelfare & Inequality5 min read

Decolonising the University: The Origins and Meaning of a Movement

Political QuarterlyMay 7, 2020

The contemporary debate in UK higher education about the need to “decolonise the curriculum” stems in large part from the pressure applied by a sustained stude...

International politicsWelfare & Inequality6 min read

Meritocracy: How did a nightmarish vision of the future become so influential?

David Civil and Joseph J. HimsworthApril 16, 2020

Sixty years after its publication, Michael Young’s The Rise of the Meritocracy remains one of Britain’s most influential, yet widely misunderstood, p...

CommentUKWelfare & Inequality6 min read

The never-ending saga over antisemitism and the Labour Party

Adam SutcliffeFebruary 27, 2020

The seemingly never-ending rumpus over antisemitism in the Labour Party has been capturing headlines for over four years now. This controversy is closely entwi...

ReviewsUKWelfare & Inequality7 min read

“We really need Orwell’s spirit of fighting back”: Interview with Alpa Shah

anyapearson2January 10, 2020

Alpa Shah has always striven to understand inequality, and how to address it. When we meet at her home in North London on a damp day in Autumn, my head is full...

InterviewsWelfare & Inequality9 min read

In defence of Blue Labour

Jonathan RutherfordDecember 11, 2019

Jon Bloomfield’s article in the Political Quarterly on ‘Progressive politics in a changing world’ claims to explain the "fallacies of Blue Labour". Here’s a re...

CommentUKWelfare & Inequality7 min read

Review: Our City: Migrants and the Making of Modern Birmingham, by Jon Bloomfield

Tony WrightDecember 10, 2019

In Jonathan Coe's recent novel Middle England, one of the characters offers this reflection: ‘A more cheering thought rose up: the realisation that here, on th...

ReviewsUKWelfare & Inequality6 min read

Toxic friends? A critique of Blue Labour

Jon BloomfieldNovember 26, 2019

This article presents a critique of Blue Labour in four key areas – class, economy, family and race. It sets out alternative ways forward to forge rather than ...

CommentUKWelfare & Inequality9 min read