The Politics of Inequality: why should we focus on resistance from below?

Contributor(s): Professor John Chalcraft, Dr Flora Cornish, Professor Ellen Helsper, Dr Armine Ishkanian, Dr Sumi Madhok |

While it is now widely accepted that inequality is the defining issue of our time and there is growing research on the drivers and impacts of inequalities, there has been less focus on how inequalities are experienced and resisted by ordinary people and communities. The newly launched Politics of Inequality research theme at the International Inequalities Institute explores the practices of resistance, mobilisation, and contestation from a bottom-up perspective.

This panel will discuss the following questions

why we established this theme

why research on collective action and everyday resistance against a wide range of social, cultural, economic and political inequalities is important in advancing our understandings of not only how inequalities are experienced, but also how they can be tackled

how research on this theme brings together interdisciplinary perspectives to contribute to on-going research and teaching across LSE as well as engaging with wider global debates.

The theme is linked with the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, which is based at LSE, and is committed to building a community of people committed to using collective leadership to work towards social and economic justice for all.

Meet our speakers and chair

John Chalcraft is Professor of Middle East History and Politics in the Department of Government at LSE.

Flora Cornish (@FloraCornish) is Associate Professor in Research Methodology in the Department of Methodology at LSE.

Ellen Helsper (@EllenHel) is Professor of Digital Inequalities in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE.

Armine Ishkanian (@Armish15) is Associate Professor in Social Policy and Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE.

Sumi Madhok (@sumi_madhok) is Associate Professor in Transnational Gender Studies in the Department of Gender Studies at LSE.

Alpa Shah (@alpashah001) is Associate Professor in Anthropology and convenor of the Global Economies of Care theme in the International Inequalities Institute at LSE.

More about this event

The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series of debates about the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECOVID19