Events

Elites and Wealth Inequality: ECR workshop

Hosted by the Department of Sociology

The Marshall Building, LSE Campus

Speakers

Professor Annette Lareau

Professor Annette Lareau

Leverhulme Visiting Professor, LSE

Dr Pere Ayling

Dr Pere Ayling

Senior Lecturer in Early Years, University of Suffolk

Professor Ashley Mears

Professor Ashley Mears

Professor and Chair of Cultural Sociology and New Media, University of Amsterdam

Professor Sam Friedman

Professor Sam Friedman

Professor of Sociology, LSE

Professor Shamus Khan

Professor Shamus Khan

Willard Thorp Professor of Sociology and American Studies at Princeton University

Chair

Professor Mike Savage

Professor Mike Savage

Martin White Professor of Sociology, LSE

This workshop aims to foster relationships between early career researchers, develop writing practice, and offer new insights into the work of leading researchers in the field.

A full agenda of the day and information on how to submit your abstract can be found below. 

Registrations are welcome from early career researchers and doctoral students. You can find further information on how to register here. Workshop proceedings will be organised by area of interest and professional experience.

Key dates: 

  • Saturday 6 April: deadline to submit a 500-word abstract on your project.
  • Tuesday 9 April: list of participants to be finalised.
  • Monday 22 April: submission of draft papers by confirmed participants.

Meet the speakers:

Annette Lareau is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2024, she is a Leverhulme Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology at London School of Economics. She is the author of the award-winning books Unequal Childhoods, Home Advantage, and Listening to People. With Blair Sackett, she authored We Thought It Would be Heaven: Refugees in an Unequal America (University of California Press). She is currently doing a study of the blessings and challenges of wealth for families. Annette Lareau is Past President of the American Sociological Association.

Pere Ayling is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Pere was born in Nigeria and has over 10 years of teaching experience in early years, primary and higher education. Pere is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Sam Friedman (@SamFriedmanSoc) is a Professor of Sociology at LSE, and a sociologist of class and inequality. His research focuses on the cultural dimensions of contemporary class division. He is currently writing a book with Aaron Reeves (under contract with Harvard University Press) exploring how the British elite has changed over the last 120 years. His previous book, The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged,  researched social mobility into Britain’s higher professional and managerial occupations. 

Ashley Mears primarily works at the intersections of economic and cultural sociology and gender. She investigates how societies in Britain value individuals and objects. Her research focuses on the concepts of value and exchange within the realms of labour, aesthetics, complimentary items, social elites, consumption patterns, and the impact of social media.

Shamus Khan (@shamuskhan) is Willard Thorp Professor of Sociology and American Studies at Princeton University. He writes on culture, inequality, gender, and elites. He is the author of over 100 articles, books, and essays, including Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St Paul’s School (Princeton), The Practice of Research (Oxford, with Dana Fisher), Approaches to Ethnography: Modes of Representation and Analysis in Participant Observation (Oxford, with Colin Jerolmack), and Sexual Citizens: Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus (W.W. Norton, with Jennifer Hirsch), which was named a best book of 2020 by NPR.

Mike Savage (@MikeSav47032563) is Martin White Professor of Sociology and Wealth, Elites and Tax Justice research programme leader at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. His most recent books include the co-authored Social Class in the 21st Century, and The Return of Inequality: Social Change and the Weight of History.

This event is generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the International Inequalities Institute at the LSE. We regret we cannot cover travel costs, but lunch and refreshments will be provided. 

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Agenda

10.00am to 10.30am - Arrival tea/coffee

10.30am to 12.00pm - Introductory lecture by Annette Lareau  “Writing in an early career: Advice” Professor, University of Pennsylvania and Leverhulme Visiting Professor, LSE

12.00pm to 1.00pm - Lunch (provided)

1.00pm to 3.00pm - Writing groups

3.00pm to 3.30pm - Tea/coffee break

3.30pm to 5.00pm - Panel discussion

Chair: Annette Lareau
Ashley Mears, Professor and Chair of Cultural Sociology and New Media, University of Amsterdam
Sam Friedman, Professor of Sociology, LSE
Pere Ayling, Senior Lecturer in Early Years, University of Suffolk
Mike Savage, Martin White Professor of Sociology, LSE

5.00pm to 6.00pm - Drinks reception

6.30pm to 8.00pm - Public lecture by Shamus Khan, "Centring Families in Elite Studies" Willard Thorp Professor of Sociology and American Studies, Willard Thorp Professor of Sociology and American Studies at Princeton University

Call for Abstracts

The workshop will involve several leading scholars in this field, and include a keynote by Professor Shamus Khan, Princeton, as well as a “writing workshop” where you can gain advice on your scholarship and writing.

To begin, Professor Annette Lareau, (Leverhulme Visiting Professor, LSE), will give a lecture “Writing in the Early Career: The Importance of Constructive Feedback.” This will lead into a two-hour session which will allow each participant to gain feedback on a work-in-progress from three other junior scholars. Participants in turn, will read and give written comments to three colleagues. Additional guidelines will be provided.

Later in the afternoon, there will be a panel where distinguished scholars working in the field including Professor Mike Savage, LSE, Professor Ashley Mears, University of Amsterdam, Dr Pere Ayling, University of Suffolk and Professor Sam Friedman, LSE, will present their research.

The conference, which will take place at LSE, is free to those registered. Places are limited, please apply to participate in this conference by submitting a 500-word abstract on your project by the Monday 25 March. You will only be able to attend the workshop if you are able to share a substantial piece of draft writing. Works-in-progress are welcome. Your abstract should include your research question broadly conceived, the methodology you use, and the literature which has framed this project.

You can find further information on how to register here.

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