Paying Up Or Down

If you are concerned about the talk of interest rates being on the rise again as a result of the way the world is and the scale of debt of many kinds including your own you are not alone.

Perhaps that extra or new mortgage or way of funding the car expenses or those several holidays of a lifetime or ensuring that your kids could compete with the neighbours have had their implications.

All is not lost. There is someone around to help. The thesis is we are being tracked, evaluated and sold by reason of digital inequalities.

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We are thrilled to announce that Beverley Skeggs is to join the LSE as Academic Director of the III’s Atlantic Fellows programme from 1 September. She will be working closely with the III’s co-directors John Hills and Mike Savage, as well as the LSE’s wider academic community, to build the Atlantic Fellows programme and position the III as one of the world’s premier centres for the critical analysis of inequality.

Beverley is one of the foremost feminist sociologists in the world, and will bring to the post a wealth of experience addressing the multi-dimensional nature of inequality. Her book Formations of Class and Gender (1997) has been profoundly significant in drawing attention to the intersections between class and gender inequality, as experienced by working class young women dealing with the vulnerabilities of daily life in harsh conditions.

Her more recent work has shown how contemporary ideas of the ‘self’ implicitly discriminate against many groups – women, ethnic minorities, migrants and the economically deprived – who are seen to fall short of the assumed values of control and autonomy.

In recent years, supported by numerous grants and fellowships, she has explored the source of these values through pioneering studies of traditional and social media: reality television and Facebook. She sees digital tracking and trading as one of the major ways in which inequality is being forged, as some groups are targeted for debt trade.

Alongside her world leading intellectual contributions, Beverley has been a major change maker and transformative leader. She has been Head of two of the UK’s leading Sociology Department, at Manchester and Goldsmiths, and transformed Britain’s oldest sociology journal, the Sociological Review, into an independent foundation devoted to opening up critical social science.

Beverley’s record as mentor is unsurpassed. She has supervised over 30 doctoral students, worked with numerous early career researchers, and nurtured legions of colleagues. Her dedication to issues of care and respect will infuse the work of our Atlantic Fellows programme.

As she notes: “I've spent my life trying to change the world so I relish the opportunity to "go global" in the challenge to Inequality. The Atlantic Fellows Programme is an incredible initiative that will enable activists and academics to work together to make a stand against injustice. In these tough times it is exactly what we need”.

Prof Julia Black, interim Director of LSE, added “I am thrilled to welcome Beverley as Academic Director of our major Atlantic Fellows programme. Drawing on her great experience and track record as a transformational leader, Bev will bring huge passion and excitement to this flagship position at the LSE. She will further consolidate the position of our International Inequalities Institute as the major global centre research about, and campaigning against, economic and social inequality.”

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Quick, hide, the bailiffs are back again.