In the inaugural Social Policy Lecture at LSE, Leslie McCall presents a novel analytical framework for the understanding of popular responses to economic inequality.
Questioning widespread notions of US exceptionalism, the lecture critically examines common assumptions about how Americans think about issues of economic inequality (in outcomes and opportunities and across dimensions of race and class) and related policies that reduce economic inequality. Using a wide range of existing and original data sources, as well as multiple methodological approaches, Professor McCall analyzes public views in the United States over time and in a comparative context. She proposes a multi-dimensional framework for understanding public views of inequality rooted in desires for substantive economic and educational opportunities through a broad set of social rights, employment protection and support, and redistribution of pay. The in-depth study of the American case in comparative perspective and supplementary cross-national analyses suggests that this novel analytical framework can shed light on the politics of inequality throughout advanced political economies.
Meet their speaker and chair
Leslie McCall (@LeslieMcCallgc) is a Presidential Professor of Political Science and Sociology at CUNY and the Associate Director of the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality there. Professor McCall studies public opinion about inequality, opportunity, and related economic and policy issues; trends in earnings and family income inequality; and patterns of intersectional inequality. She is the author of The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution.
Lucinda Platt (@PlattLucinda) is a Professor of Social Policy and Sociology at LSE and the Head of the Department of Social Policy. Professor Platt’s research focuses on the analysis of inequality within and between social groups, and she is currently a panel member for the IFS Deaton Inequality Review.
More about this event
The Department of Social Policy (@LSESocialPolicy) provides top quality international and multidisciplinary research and teaching on social and public policy challenges facing countries across the world. From its foundation in 1912 it has carried out cutting edge research on core social problems, and helped to develop policy solutions.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSESocialPolicy