In this blog, we explain why we need to have an Extreme Wealth Line, just like the Extreme Poverty Line. Also, having a line as a social indicator does not necessarily commit one to a limit on wealth possession via taxation only; it's a regulative ideal. blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities...

📜Fresh off the press: Annett Heft, @michaelvaughan.bsky.social, Barbara Pfetsch & I attempted to find a level for defining social media affordances that permits conceptualizing differences between platforms and uses, and is thus useful for theory building. doi.org/10.1093/ct/q...

My article on the tv hit Succession and its media reception finally out. Keywords Schadenfreude, fantasy, dynasties. My argument being that it is a fantasy-driven construct appealing to a middle class desire to see the rich as miserable people destined to fall. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In November's Budget, the Chancellor can reform taxes on wealth to achieve three wins - raising revenue, tackling inequality and boosting growth. Find out more at fairnessfoundation.com/win-win-win

Amazon workers' weekly wage = 1 pebble Jeff Bezos net worth = THE ENTIRE BEACH

Now out in @cpsjournal.bsky.social. In our new article, @denis-cohen.bsky.social @thmskrr.bsky.social and I show that where local rent prices increase more, residents with lower incomes become more likely to support the radical right AfD. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

In London, hate will never win.

Just got round to listening (not something I can normally bear to do when I’m involved but wanted to hear what the other contributors had to say). Anyway…I really enjoyed it, so you never know: you might too!

👉 Stories about economic change are never neutral. They make politics. In my new article in Sociological Theory @sociologicaltheory.bsky.social, I show how narratives about economic disruption become a source of legitimacy: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

We have a 🚨 new open access paper 🚨 with @polcommjournal.bsky.social We show how platforms can simultaneously concentrate and fragment political power. We analysed Italy's Five Star Movement across 5 platforms to understand multi-platform dynamics in political organisations. doi.org/10.1080/1058...

Some thoughts on our recent report for @jrf-uk.bsky.social - and why we shouldn't shy away from the problem of unfair influence in talking about wealth inequality @wealtherty.bsky.social

This book is brilliant - insightful, timely, and also written quite beautifully. If you are confused about or interested in how politics "feels" in the present conjuncture of UK/US politics, read it! @benandersongeog.bsky.social @ajsecor.bsky.social www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-p...

Absolutely dystopian juxtaposition from the Guardian front page. Difficult to understand how anyone of decency and conscience can defend this government at this point. Just sheer moral degeneracy to arm a state that does this and arrest people for objecting. Wtf are we doing as a country?

NEW✨ ‪ @michaelvaughan.bsky.social @lseinequalities.bsky.social reviews Equality: What It Means and Why It Matters by Thomas Piketty @thomaspiketty.bsky.social and Michael J. Sandel @politybooks.bsky.social 👇

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Starmer’s policy: a transfer of resources from the poorest, straight to the arms industry.

Story Tech: Power, Storytelling, and Social Change Advocacy by Filippo Trevisan @michaelvaughan.bsky.social‬ @lseinequalities.bsky.social @ariadnevromen.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social @livunipress.bsky.social @uofmpress.bsky.social #Review by Juliana Reimberg @cu-cardiffbusiness.bsky.social‬

🧵New @jrf-uk.bsky.social and @lseinequalities.bsky.social report by @wealtherty.bsky.social @michaelvaughan.bsky.social and Annalena Oppel: We showcase three different ways of talking about wealth inequality and what difference it makes to public attitudes. 1/3 www.jrf.org.uk/wealth-fundi...

Are you concerned by huge & escalating racial wealth inequalities in the UK? Please come to hear the launch of our @lseinequalities.bsky.social report for @runnymedetrust.bsky.social on 10th June. Features @shabna.bsky.social @kojokoram.bsky.social Faiza Shaheen & us! www.lse.ac.uk/Internationa...

Given the local election results in the UK, a short #thread - based on much of our own research - on the vicious cycle of radical right support that we have seen in many countries. 1) When radical right parties (such as Reform) are electorally successful established parties move right on immigration

The wealth of billionaires is growing very fast (7-9%/year). Let's be clear: a 2% wealth tax is an important first step, but it won't be enough to stabilize the ⤴️ concentration at the top. 5-10% is the minimum to stop inequality from rising. These questions must be part of open, democratic debates.

138 NGO leaders tell Keir Starmer: "It is unacceptable that taxing extreme wealth was not looked at before cutting UK aid." www.bond.org.uk/press-releas...

Out today - new article with @wealtherty.bsky.social on visual representations of wealth inequality, by UK news media and civil society orgs journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

It's difficult to engage in good faith in a discussion about 'compromise' proposals that dignify the phoney premise that we simply can't afford to scrap the two-child limit & benefit cap. £3.5bn would be incredible value for the poverty alleviation (& knock-on economic benefits) it would achieve

This will be great!

📣 New paper by @michaelvaughan.bsky.social, Ariadne Vromen and Serrin Rutledge-Prior They explore how personal storytelling was used in the 2023 Voice referendum to argue against the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 🔗 https://buff.ly/3EQ1f1Q

My new article written with @serrinrp.bsky.social & @michaelvaughan.bsky.social has just been published in @bjpir.bsky.social “Storytelling in the Australian 2023 voice referendum campaign” available OA at doi.org/10.1177/1369...

Please join us on Thursday 6 March for a @lseinequalities.bsky.social discussion about where & how to draw the line on extreme wealth. Fabulous line up @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social @garyseconomics.bsky.social @deschuttero.bsky.social, Fernanda Balata & Tania Burchardt www.lse.ac.uk/Internationa...

Thanks to the LSE European Politics Blog for commissioning a summary of our study on class consciousness and voting. We show that even class conscious workers are not immune to radical right appeals. And we discuss how the left can still win. The study is here: www.fes.de/cgi-bin/gbv....

It's not a demolition site it's a mass grave. It's not a demolition site it's a crime scene. It's not a demolition site its a homeland. It's not a demolition site it's Palestine. It's not a demolition site it's a genocide.

What do people talk about when they talk about inequality? For starters, they probably don’t use the word “inequality”… @michaelvaughan.bsky.social on the rise of “inequality as spectacle” over elite-led debate, drawing on Mangione & other case studies #LSEInequalitiesBlog

🚨Job alert 🚨 I am looking for two PhD students to work on (comparative) economic inequalities, broadly defined 💰📈💸 The positions are fully funded (E13, 100%), 4 years (with possibility of a 1y extension), and in beautiful Heidelberg! 🏰 adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FD... Deadline is Feb 28!

Perfectly timed, and very nicely crafted report. Great work by NEF and Patriotic Millionaires 👏👏

📢 New paper by @michaelvaughan.bsky.social and David Schieferdecker: Through an analysis of the 2021 billionaire space race, they argue that “inequality as spectacle” is critical to contemporary inequality discourse. Read it here 👇 https://buff.ly/4hikYFg

We're delighted to welcome @graceblakeley.bsky.social to our event this evening! Grace is joined by @michaelvaughan.bsky.social and @davidjmadden.bsky.social to discuss her new book "Vulture Capitalism". Watch the discussion online ➡️ www.youtube.com/live/iQJVkW5... #LSEEvents

"Reversing racial wealth and health disparities will require bold change, a substantial power shift and significant, long-term investment...viewing home ownership less aspirationally and certainly not as an asset for wealth accumulation" ✍🏽 Me and my colleague Serena for @lseinequalities.bsky.social

New year, new article 🎉 David Schieferdecker and I talk about "inequality as spectacle" as a distinct type of inequality discourse, exemplified in the billionaire space race. E.g. focused on the super-rich (not distributions), emerging via hybrid media (not just newspapers) ijoc.org/index.php/ij...

1/ Wealth has raced ahead of earnings, creating a new caste society Tax is only part of the answer: we also need a new political economy that differentiates good & bad wealth My major new @ippr.bsky.social report: Earning Vs Owning ippr-org.files.svdcdn.com/production/D...

A billionaire wins the US presidential election, bankrolled by the richest man in the world using his own huge social media site to spread propaganda and disinformation. Yet, we don't talk about money in politics but about how standing up for marginalized groups supposedly lost the election.

Our special Issue on platforms, power & friction is officially out with shiny volume and issue numbers in @icsjournal.bsky.social, just in time for thinking about the interplay between platform power and authoritarianism www.tandfonline.com/toc/rics20/2...

How did Britain's post-industrial towns become hubs of badly paid work and disenchanted politics? They were not forgotten or 'left behind', but actively remade. My report for @cmmonwealth.bsky.social two-towns.common-wealth.org

Latest Substack: On Oxfam's latest ad and its clever use of "substitution" and "hyperbole" to tell a story about wealth with deep roots in western religious culture campaignsalience.substack.com/p/apocalypse...

We’re currently putting together our autumn newsletter for the Redistributive Imaginaries project — if you’d like to receive it, it’s easy to sign up on our website: redigim.arts.ac.uk/contact/

My new article out in Economy and Society, analysing the rise of the rich and the figure of the wealthy private owner in Finnish business media. I suggest we are moving towards a neo-accumulationist regime characterised by new admiration of private accumulation. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

I appreciate much of the analysis I’ve seen over the last couple days. I don’t think we can talk about what is sick in politics or media (a lot!) w/o looking directly at billionaires, refusing to shut up about billionaires, and coming for billionaires through policies that chisel away at their power