We had a hugely stimulating day at Trinity Hall on 25 May, which began with discussions on recent polling relating to public attitudes to inequality conducted by YouGov and a keynote delivered by former Secretary of State Sir Vince Cable. Through individual presentations and panel discussions, we uncovered the breadth and depth of research across the disciplines tackling the question of explaining and understanding inequality.
From population-level data and the international sustainable development goals to the use of local newspaper reports in relation to both child abuse and asbestos-related deaths, we learned about the ways in which different researchers understand and explain inequalities in different disciplines.
Inequalities cut across all disciplines and fields, from health to education, to law, economics, history and development. We learned about how inequalities change and develop over time, what the public think about inequality, what factors explain inequalities in different contexts and what implications this has for policy makers. In some circumstances there were calls for national measures, such as in prioritizing policy goals in relation to development, in others listening to individual voices.
We learned about the power of the state and institutions, in mitigating inequalities, and about the power of argument and discourse around inequality as well as a focus on 'what works' in relation to specific policy interventions.
We thank all those who contributed including presenters, chairs, and early career researchers who displayed posters at the event.
We hope to hold future events taking up the theme of inequality and encourage the research and policy community to follow up on conversations across disciplines in relation to this important societal issue.
Read Vince Cable's speech here
Listen to the audio from the conference here
Slides from the conference can be downloaded here:
New polling on public attitudes to inequality
Laurence Janta-Lipinski, Associate Director, YouGov
Colonial-modern legacies of development and public policy
Sarah Radcliffe, Department of Geography
Corporate governance, shareholder value and worker rights
Simon Deakin, Centre for Business Research
Inequalities and the history of child sexual abuse
Lucy Delap, Faculty of History
Social spending and health outcomes
Alex Sutherland, RAND Europe and Jennifer Rubin, King’s College London
A sociological and historical perspective on health inequalities: implications for current policy debates
Mike Kelly, Institute of Public Health and Simon Szreter, Faculty of History
Measuring inequalities in learning across and within countries in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals: lessons for policy
Pauline Rose, Ben Alcott, Sonia Ilie, Ricardo Sabates, Research for Equitable Access and Learning Centre
Do inequities in neighbourhood food environments contribute to inequalities in diet and health?
Pablo Monsivais, PhD, MPH
Youth precarity and inequitable transitions
Geoff Hayward, Faculty of Education
Potential for development through education and employment
Kai Ruggeri, Department of Psychology
