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Politics of Inequality

This programme has now ended, but continues as a network. The III networks are former research programmes that continue to be active in research, collaboration, and impact in their subject area.

This network is co-led by Professor Armine Ishkanian and Professor Ellen Helsper

This network explores the practices of resistance, reproduction, mobilisation, and contestation which constitute a politics of inequalities from a bottom-up perspective. Research within this network has an international and comparative focus, adopting an intersectional lens to explore collective action and everyday resistance against various social, cultural, economic and political inequalities.

This research network draws together the expertise of LSE academics from different Departments and is committed to a cross-disciplinary approach. We also aim to work with international partners, including those in the global south. The network will support research collaborations, funding bids, as well as knowledge exchange activities. The network will be an open and inclusive space for researchers across LSE and beyond to forge new connections, knowledge, and practices in the politics of inequalities.

This network is linked to the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE) programme, which is based in the International Inequalities Institute (III). Given that the AFSEE programme is committed to building a community of people who are "committed to using collective leadership to work towards social and economic justice for all", it is intended that research within this network will inform the teaching on AFSEE modules, the AFSEE Fellows’ projects and MSc dissertations, and that it will seek to engage with and to include the expertise of Fellows.

The focus of the network

Embracing a broad definition of civil society as a space for uncoerced collective action, research within this network addresses how a range of actors working within the space of civil society, from social movements, grassroots groups, NGOs, trade unions, solidarity networks, as well as ordinary citizens and non-citizens are confronting, challenging, and resisting political, social and economic inequalities at various levels, including the local, (trans)national, and international. We adopt a critical view, challenging normative assumptions about civil society. As subaltern actors have always created ways of resisting, concepts and networks, within and beyond the constraints of organisations, institutions and hegemonic discourses, the research in this network considers popular self-activity, direct action, as well as everyday, micro-level processes of reproduction and resistance.

Alongside examining the forms of action, our research will consider the (re)-production of ideas, understandings, and knowledge. We set out to consider how and under which circumstances grassroots actors are challenging and transforming narratives and public debates around inequalities, as well as how inequalities are reproduced and resisted in everyday practices, discourses and interactions. We aim to understand how ordinary people experience, accept, resist, or reproduce inequalities - in families, households, peer and community networks, media discourses, neighbourhoods and online platforms. Our research investigates emergent forms of political organising among subaltern groups, popular struggle, the "vernaculars" of collective action, and engages with struggles for epistemic justice. In doing so, it critiques the epistemic violence occasioned by social inequalities and probes different conceptualisations and instantiations of justice, equity, inequality, and imaginations of a better world.

Finally, given that part of the resistance to equality comes from within sections of civil society, such as right wing and conservative movements, research will consider the movement-countermovement dynamics as well as the dialectical relationships between such movements and popular struggles seeking to tackle inequalities.

Network Activities

The network will be an open and inclusive space for researchers across LSE and beyond to forge new connections, knowledge and practices in the politics of inequalities. In that interest, the network will host and support the following activities:

  • Workshops, roundtables, seminars/webinars – where network members and other researchers working on issues related to the network’s focus, can present work in progress
  • Platform for knowledge exchange and dissemination – the network will host (or co-host) events by network members, such as public events, book launches, or exhibitions
  • Platform for putting together collective funding proposals
  • Opportunity to connect and work with practitioners, activists, and researchers from the AFSEE network.

Past projects:

AFSEE Affiliates

  • Nicola Browne, Coordinator, Act Now Northern Ireland.
  • Georgia Haddad Nicolau, Co-founder and director, Instituto Procomum.
  • Jenny McEneaney, Senior Improvement Policy Adviser on Cyber, Digital, and Technology, Local Government Association.
  • Johnny Miller, Photographer and Filmmaker.
  • Foluke Ojelabi, Strategic Planning Monitoring and Reporting Specialist, UNICEF.
  • Anita Peña Saavedra, Head of the International Affairs Department, Ministry of Women and Gender Equality, Government of Chile and doctoral candidate.
  • Jite Phido, Senior Program Manager for Innovation, Results For Development.
  • Barbara van Paassen, Feminist Economics and Climate Justice Advocate.

Politics of Inequality conference

21 - 22 November 2024

To mark the completion of the Politics of Inequality research programme, a 2-day international conference was held in November 2024. This included presentations by researchers, practitioners, activists and AFSEE Fellows. Discussions focused on the lived experiences and impacts of inequalities and the forms of resistance and contestation.
In addition to paper presentations, the conference also hosted a multi-media exhibition of photographs and videos and live podcast session led by AFSEE Senior Fellow Barbara van Paassen, who produces the People vs Inequality podcast series.

Democracy and the right to protest in the UK

24 March 2025

Speakers:
Richard Martin, Assistant Professor of Law, LSE Law School; Sam Nadel, PhD candidate, Department of Social Policy, LSE; Pascale Frazer-Carroll, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity, campaigner and social impact director

Chair:
George Kunnath, Associate Professor (Education) and Lifelong Engagement Lead, AFSEE

Throughout history, protests have been a key tactic for activists and movements to express discontent and push for change. This panel will discuss why protests matter, what the shrinking of democratic space means for social movements and activists, and what can be done to protect freedom of speech and the right to protest.

Power to the people

27 January 2025

Speakers:
Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive, New Economics Foundation and Visiting Senior Fellow, LSE III; Jo Swinson, Director, Partners for a New Economy (P4NE) and Visiting Professor, Cranfield University; Lysa John, Executive Director, Atlantic Institute
Chair: Professor Armine Ishkanian, Executive Director, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity and Professor, Department of Social Policy, LSE

In this talk Danny Sriskandarajah discusses his new book Power to the People. Drawing on his extensive experience in leading civil society organisations around the globe, he sets out his radical blueprint for change. From giving democracy a participatory makeover to public ownership of social media spaces, and from re-energising co-operatives to creating a people’s chamber at the United Nations, he presents a range of inspiring ideas for how we can reclaim our power and change the world.

Power, politics, and belonging: the lasting impacts of colonialism

15 June 2024

Speakers: Professor Neil Cummins, Professor of Economic History in the Department of Economic History at LSE; Leah Eryenyu, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity; Dr Maël Lavenaire, Research Fellow in Racial Inequality in the International Inequalities Institute at LSE

Chair: Dr Sara Camacho-Felix, Assistant Professor (Education) in the International Inequalities Institute at LSE

Politics of power and wealth have had a huge impact on the structuring of inequalities across the globe. As the racial and ethnic inequalities that we see today stem from centuries of discrimination and marginalisation, in order to tackle them, we will need to understand how they have been embedded in the very structures of our societies.

Solidarity economics: why mutuality and movements matter

23 January 2024

Watch the recording here.

Speakers:
Professor Manuel Pastor, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California; T.O. Molefe, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and a writer and editor with an affinity for transformative social research

Chair:
Professor Armine Ishkanian, Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme at LSE International Inequalities Institute

In this lecture Manuel Pastor, joined by T.O. Molefe, will discuss his newest book Solidarity Economics: why mutuality and movements matter. He will introduce the concept of solidarity economics, which is rooted in the idea that equity is key to prosperity and social movements are crucial to the reconfiguration of power in our politics and show how we can use solidarity economics to build a fairer economy that can generate prosperity and preserve the planet.

A Lecture by Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados

6 December 2023

Join us for this special event with LSE alumna Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. Mia Amor Mottley (@miaamormottley) became Barbados' eighth and first female Prime Minister on May 25, 2018. Ms Mottley was elected to the Parliament of Barbados in September 1994 as part of the new Barbados Labour Party Government. Prior to that, she served as one of two Opposition Senators between 1991 and 1994. One of the youngest persons ever to be assigned a ministerial portfolio, Ms. Mottley was appointed Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture from 1994 to 2001. She later served as Attorney General and Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados from 2001 to 2008 and was the first female to hold that position.

Jean-Pierre Sainton and the struggle for political independence in the French Caribbean

26 October 2023

Watch the event recording

Speaker: Dr Maël Lavenaire, Caribbean and Latin America historian and Research Fellow in Racial Inequality at the LSE International Inequalities Institute

To celebrate Black History Month 2023, Dr Maël Lavenaire (LSE International Inequalities Institute) takes you on a journey to the 1960s, 70s and 80s in his home country of Guadeloupe (French Caribbean), where the struggle for political independence started in 1963 and turned into an armed struggle 20 years later. The event shines light on Caribbean scholar Professor Jean-Pierre Sainton and his singular contribution to Caribbean history.

The psychosis of whiteness

25 October 2023

Speakers:
Professor Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies, Birmingham City University; Dr Sara Camacho Felix, Assistant Professor (Education) and Programme Lead, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, LSE III

Chair: Dr Maël Lavenaire, Research Fellow in Racial Inequality, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, LSE III

Join us for a talk by Kehinde Andrews about his new book, The psychosis of whiteness. An all-encompassing, insightful and wry look at living in a racist world, by a leading black British voice in the academy and in the media. Society cannot face up to the racism at its heart and in its history, so the delusions and hallucinations it conjures up to avoid doing so can only best be described as a psychosis, and the costs are being borne by the sons and daughters of that racist history.

Can people change the world? Activists, social movements, and utopian futures

17 June 2023

Watch the event recording
Listen to the podcast

Speakers:
Dr Armine Ishkanian, Associate Professor, LSE Department of Social Policy and Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, LSE III; Dr Faiza Shaheen, Visiting Professor in Practice, LSE III and Program Lead on Inequality and Exclusion, NYU Center on International Cooperation; Georgia Haddad Nicolau, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and Co-founder and Director of Instituto Procomum
Chair: Dr Maël Lavenaire, Research Fellow in Racial Inequality at the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, LSE III

Looking beyond just forms of resistance, this panel will discuss the role of activists and social movements in today’s world and examine their agency in imagining utopian futures and creating change. How are social movements providing creative spaces for not only challenging inequalities but also coming up with alternative ideas for solutions to address the problems they are fighting against? And how and to what extent are these ideas informing policy changes?

AFSEE Keynote Lecture - Doughnut Economics: a new economic vision for cities

10 November 2022

Watch the video

Listen to the podcast

Speaker: Kate Raworth, Co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab and Senior Associate, Oxford University Environmental Change Institute

Discussant: Maria Carrasco, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity, LSE and Executive Director, Entramada

Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian, Research Programme Co-Leader (Politics of Inequality) and Executive Director AFSEE programme, LSE III and Associate Professor, Department of Social Policy, LSE

In the AFSEE Keynote Lecture, Economist Kate Raworth will discuss how we can create equal and just cities without overburdening the environment. Doughnut Economics, a framework coined by Raworth, sets out a 21st-century economic vision of meeting the needs of all people within the means of the living planet, through regenerative and distributive design.

The emergence of a social decolonisation: the question of social change in the French West Indies after World War II

29 November 2022

Watch the recording

Speaker: Dr Maël Lavenaire, Research Fellow, LSE III

Chair: Dr George Kunnath, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow, LSE III

The social change which takes place in the French West Indies after World War II is essentially generated by a sociohistorical interaction between various elements of change observed from 1946 to 1961. Here we refer to the new political status of French Department allowed by a global context, the outbreak of social movements involved in the process of decolonisation, public policies and a specific planning of "economic and social development" as well as the population growth with the emergence of a new generation from a sociological viewpoint.

28 September 2022

Speakers: Dr Fred Batista, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, UNC Charlotte; Professor Rosana Pinheiro Machado, Professor in the School of Geography, University College Dublin; Amanda Segnini, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and MSc candidate in Inequalities and Social Science, LSE

Chair: Dr Fabrício Mendes Fialho, Research Officer, LSE III

Stakes have never been so high for the survival of Brazilian democratic regime and its institutions. What factors will influence vote choice pro and against Bolsonaro? Who are his followers? What will be Bolsonaro’s legacy to Brazilian politics? What can be done to defend Brazilian democracy? Drawing together a panel of experts the event will seek to address these questions and create a dialogue on the challenges faced by one of the world’s largest democracies.

Landscapes of Environmental Racism

20 October 2022

Listen to the podcast

Speaker: Professor Hazel V Carby, Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor Emeritus of African American Studies and Professor Emeritus of American Studies, Yale University

Discussant: Ruby Hembrom, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity, LSE

Chair: Dr Imaobong Umoren, Associate Professor, Department of International History, LSE

Settler colonialism and racial capitalism in the US has resulted in dramatic forms of inequality through institutionalized, geopolitical, and environmental racism. Indigenous, black and Latinx communities suffer the health consequences of living in the most polluted and toxic environments. Indigenous peoples across the Americas are also at the forefront of opposition to the extraction and transportation of fossil fuels. In this event, Hazel Carby will be discussing and showing the work of indigenous artists who are responding to environmental and ecological crises and degradation.

Decolonising Pedagogy: race, gender, and marginal voices in higher education

7 June 2022

Speakers: Professor Heidi Safia Mirza (Emeritus Professor of Equality Studies in Education, UCL Institute of Education and Visiting Professor of Race, Department of Social Policy, LSE); Dr Sara Camacho Felix (Assistant Professorial Lecturer and Programme Lead, Atlantic Fellows in Social and Economic Equity, III)

Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian (Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, III and Associate Professor, Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Fundamental to decolonising pedagogy is an understanding of the way we ‘talk’ about race, gender and social justice in our taken for granted systems of knowledge and power. In this AFSEE Keynote Lecture, Heidi Mirza will discuss how we situate the raced and gendered ‘Other’ in everyday discourse and why and how marginalised groups articulate alternative world views. Professor Mirza will be joined by discussant Dr Sara Camacho Felix.

Watch the video here

Policy and Social Change

31 May 2022

Speakers: Dr Amara Enyia(Manager of Policy and Research, the Movement for Black Lives and Founder, Global Black) Tracy Jooste(Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity), Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey(Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy, Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian (Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, III and Associate Professor, Department of Social Policy, LSE)

The world is facing multiple crises that are responsible for widening economic and social inequalities and insecurities, ranging from climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past decade, movements such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, Occupy, and the Indignados have confronted States and elites, challenged inequalities and mobilised to bring about greater justice, democracy, and progressive policy changes. This panel brings together speakers who are working at the intersection of research and policy to discuss the question: what is the relationship between policy and social change?

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

Civil Society, Solidarity and Emergent Agency in the Time of COVID-19

23 February 2022

Speakers: Dr Paul Apostolidis (Department of Government, LSE), Dr Irene Gujit (Oxfam, GB), Dr Armine Ishkanian (Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity), Anita Peña Saavedra (Atlantic Fellow, LSE III)

Chair: Dr George Kunnath(Research Fellow, LSE III)

In this panel, we bring together speakers who have been working with communities across the globe, from Chile, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and the US to document practices of solidarity, resistance, and mutual aid. They will discuss how civil society organisations are responding to the new challenges and examine the forms of solidarity and agency that are emerging.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

The Digital Disconnect

Monday 07 March 2022

Speakers: Professor Marta Arretche(Professor, Department of Political Science University of São Paulo), Professor Ellen Helsper(Professor of Digital Inequalities, Department of Media and Communications, LSE), Professor Karen Mossberger(Frank and June Sackton Professor of Public Affairs, Arizona State University) and Professor Mike Savage(Martin White Professor of Sociology, LSE)

Chair: Professor Bart Cammaerts(Head of the Department of Media and Communications, LSE)

With the increased digitisation of society comes an increased concern about who is left behind. From societal causes to the impact of everyday actions, leading experts will discuss Ellen Helsper's latest book, The Digital Disconnect which explores the relationship between digital and social inequalities, and the lived consequences of digitisation.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

Changing the Story on Disability?

Monday 11 October 2021

Speakers: Liz Sayce(JRF Practitioner Fellow, LSE III), Tom Shakespeare (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), Fredrick Ouko(Atlantic Fellow, LSE III), Kate Stanley (FrameWorks UK)

Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian

Thirty years after the world’s first disability discrimination law (the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990), and fourteen years after the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, debate remains fierce on how to influence public attitudes and behaviours towards disabled people: how to erode and replace discriminatory stereotypes. Disability rights advocates argue that charities (perhaps inadvertently) reinforce negative imagery in their promotion and fundraising. Yet arguably defining disability as a core equality issue has not, as yet, lit up public consciousness and action.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

Youth and Inequalities in the UK

Tuesday 29 June 2021

Speakers: Jason Allen(St Mary's Youth Team Manager), Jeremiah Emmanuel (entrepreneur, youth activist and author) and Michaela Rafferty (III Atlantic Fellow; Young People’s Development Worker, Just for Kids Law)

Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian

As the gap between the generations grows and young people’s voices and concerns are not adequately taken into account by policy makers and politicians, it is no surprise that young people increasingly feel anxious of what the future holds. This panel brought together three young leaders who are working in and beyond their local communities to address inequalities in education, housing, employment and the criminal justice system.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

For a Reparatory Social Science

Wednesday 26 May 2021

Speaker: Professor Gurminder K Bhambra

Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian

In the inaugural Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity Keynote Lecture, Professor Bhambra explored the social sciences’ failure to acknowledge the extent to which modern nation-states were bound up with relations of colonial extraction and domination. Without putting such relations at the heart of our analyses, we cannot address global inequality effectively.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

Refusing Discriminatory Technologies of Power: racial justice and the challenge of hi-tech policing - Inequalities Seminar Series

Tuesday 11 May 2021

Speaker: Dr Seeta Peña Gangadharan

Chair: Professor Ellen Helsper

From informational capitalism to biased code, technological systems increasingly form part of larger structures of oppression and domination. This talk tackled the topic of technology, injustice, and inequity with a focus on bottom-up practices of resistance, rejection, and refusal of digital and automated systems that increasingly govern people’s lives.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

When Violence Endures: inequality, resistance, and repression in India's Maoist guerrilla zones - Inequalities Seminar Series

Tuesday 23 March 2021

Speaker: George Kunnath

Chair: Professor Ellen Helsper

This talk engaged with the concept of violence in the context of the ongoing Maoist insurgency and counterinsurgency in India. During the five-decade-long armed conflict involving the Maoist guerrillas and the landless/poor peasants on the one side, and the state security forces and upper-caste/private militias on the other, violence has taken multiple forms. It has spiralled, giving rise to new formations and new theatres of war, especially in the forested areas which are home to indigenous populations. The speaker conceptualised this enduring violence and reflect on the possibility of resolutions, drawing on twenty years of his research in conflict-affected regions in India, and recently in Colombia.

- Book Launch

Thursday 18 March 2021

Speakers: Masana Ndinga-Kanga, Ben Phillips,and Pedro Telles

Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian

Inequality is the crisis of our time. The growing gap between a few at the top and the rest of society damages us all. No longer able to deny the crisis, governments across the globe have pledged to address it – and yet inequality keeps on getting worse. In his new book, How to Fight Inequality: and why that fight needs you, international anti-inequalities campaigner Ben Phillips discusses why winning the debate is not enough: we have to win the fight.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

Precarious Work, COVID-19 and Latino Immigrants in the US

Thursday 25 February 2021

Speakers: Genoveva Roldán Dàvila, Paul Apostolidis, Patricia Pozos Rivera,and Juan de Lara

Chair: Daniela Castroa Alquicira

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

Wednesday 27 January 2021

Speakers: Professor John Chalcroft, Dr Flora Cornish, Professor Ellen Helsper, Dr Armine Ishkanian, and Dr Sumi Madhok

Chair: Dr Alpa Shah

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 programme at the International Inequalities Institute explores the practices of resistance, mobilisation, and contestation from a bottom-up perspective.

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

Oxfam Emergent Agency project launch

Thursday 12 November 2020

This event was part of the AFSEE Covid-19 Rapid Response Fund initiative

Speakers: Katherine Marshall, Laurence Cox,and Yogesh Kumar Ghore

Please click here for a summary about the meeting by Dr Duncan Green.

Research presentation by Anita Pena Saavedra (AFSEE Senior Fellow) based on AFSEE Covid-19 Rapid Response Fund project

Thursday 12 November 2020

Conversatorio: Pobladoras, Memoria y Resistencia: Reflexiones a partir de los derechos humanos y los feminismos (Jueves, 19 de noviembre de 2020 - 18:00 a 20:00 Hrs)

Click here for details

Politics of Inequality International Conference

The Politics of Inequality research programme officially ended in December 2024, becoming a research network. To mark the completion of the Politics of Inequality research programme, a two-day international conference was held in November 2024. This included presentations by researchers, practitioners, activists and AFSEE Fellows. Discussions focused on the lived experiences and impacts of inequalities and the forms of resistance and contestation. In addition to paper presentations, the conference also hosted a multimedia exhibition of photographs and videos and live podcast session led by AFSEE Senior Fellow, Barbara van Paassen, who produces the People vs Inequality podcast series.

Activism, Policy and Transformation Writing Retreat

A two-day writing retreat was organised by the Activism, Policy and Transformation research project, which is part of the III’s Politics of Inequality Research Programme. Members, including Professor Armine Ishkanian and researchers from Chile, Armenia, South Africa and Lebanon, met face-to-face for the first time to map the outline of a co-authored article and to agree on other research dissemination and publication activities in the near future.

This collaborative work was based on research conducted in 2022 by various members of the project. Participants included Mariam Khalatyan and Nvard Margaryan, from the Socioscope research non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Yerevan, Armenia, and Zeinab Srour, a journalist who works with the Arab Forum for Alternatives NGO in Beirut, Lebanon. LSE Global Academic Engagement’s global research fund, support from the LSE III, and the Eden Centre’s team were instrumental in facilitating this successful workshop.

Resistance Doesn't Walk Alone - exhibition

This exhibition was a collaboration between photographer and AFSEE Fellow Johnny Miller and the Politics of Inequality research programme. It showcased the ways that individuals and communities are confronting, challenging, and resisting political, social and economic inequalities in Brazil. The exhibition works were captured in eight cities across Brazil in 2022. The research project was commissioned by the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme and the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute.