Inequality. The Issue of Our Time Dr. Johnna Montgomerie

This is a preview of, Inequality – The Issue of Our Time is a three-part series of dialogues 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.

In this episode we learn inequality is not just a personal experience of extreme poverty or exorbitant wealth, there are wider effects of inequality on political stability and social cohesion. What starts in the economy as income and wealth inequality radiate through society and politics in ways that generate polarization. We examine more closely the balance between the state, the market and society and ask what effect inequality has on social democracy? What effect can social democracy have on addressing inequality? This final episode explores how public policy can be used to improve inequality.

This dialogue transitions from establishing shared understandings of inequality to evaluating the ascent of finance in contemporary life. Specifically, the role that assets and debts play in shaping the contours of who is at risk of experiencing inequality. We ask what is new about contemporary inequality and what has changed in the configuration of the economy itself to worsen inequality. To answer these questions the discussion shifts from the domestic national economies to global finance and interrogates the ways in which global financial markets connect to everyday life. We talk to authors of the book “The Asset Economy,” and learn income levels are just one among many significant factors, like family wealth or inherited wealth, plus age, race, gender, and where you live. These are the key elements that configure intergroup inequality.

This episode introduces 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.

This is a preview of Inequality – The Issue of Our Time. 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.