Research News and Media Mentions

The paper titled "Tax flight? Britain’s wealthiest and their attachment to place," authored by Professor Sam Friedman, Victoria Gronwald, Andy Summers and Emma Taylor, recently highlighted in The Guardian and published as an III working paper, has been referenced in this OBR document. This document outlines the Treasury's rationale for abolishing the Non-Dom regime.

Professor Sam Friedman and Professor Aaron Reeves' article "From Aristocratic to Ordinary: Shifting Modes of Elite Distinction" was a top cited article in American Sociological Review in 2023.

Fortune Magazine published a piece on the transformations in Portugal's golden visa program that cites Dr Kristin Surak's research on investment migration to describe why people seek these options as well as changes in demand over time. Dr Surak gave a book talk on "The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires" and taught a class on transformations in citizenship at the Watson Institute  of Brown University. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published a review of Dr Surak's new book written by Claus Leggewie, discussing the ins and outs of the sale of citizenship. 

Dr Kristin Surak was quoted in this Politiken article “Findes der overhovedet en demokratisk valgt leder, der er mere upopulær end ham her?“ on the unpopularity of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida, and whether he can expect to stay in power.

Dr Ioanna Gouseti’s work was featured in Public, in an article entitled “'Ask for Angela', the code for the risk of sexual assault in British bars.”

Dr Svetlana Ruseishvili presented at the Research Seminar Series hosted by the Department of Sociology at Sodertorn University, Sweden, in February. Her presentation was entitled "Babies and Passports: How Mobile Women Tackle Global Citizenship Inequalities Through Childbirth". Dr Ruseishvili was also invited to present at the LAC Main Series hosted by the Latin American Centre at Oxford in February. Her talk was entitled "Citizenship Inequalities and Birth Tourism Industry in Latin America: the case of Brazil."

Professor Mike Savage has been named as an Affiliate of the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research (ACEIR). Hosted by the University of Cape Town, South Africa, ACEIR aims to explore policies and strategies to overcome African inequality through analytical, empirical, and data-driven research. ACEIR Affiliates are researchers from institutions outside of the ACEIR nodes who actively collaborate with ACEIR on projects.

Dr Carrie Friese delivered a seminar entitled “More-than-Human Humanitarianism: Bioscience, Care and the Problem of Sacrificial Logics” for the Science Studies Colloquium Series at the University of Oslo in February.

Professor Sam Friedman was cited in an article in The Guardian by Polly Toynbee on whether the super-rich fear getting very bored in ‘culturally barren’ tax havens.

Johnathan Inkley, a recent MSc Inequalities graduate, and Dr Kristin Surak presented a paper using new data to analyse patterns in using offshore structures to hold UK property to show why people may chose to cloak their holdings. The paper, entitled "Why Hide? The Dynamics of Secrecy and Tax in UK Property Holding." was presented at the Symposium on Systems of Financial Secrecy, hosted by Open Ownership and the LSE International Inequalities Institute.

Dr Kristin Surak was interviewed in ON Economia on the economic contributions of regularised workers, compared to golden visa investors in Spain. Dr Surak also presented her work on investment migration and the use of visas and passports to facilitate financial crime at an online meeting of the Anti-Corruption Action Network. Dr Kristin Surak gave an interview on the Chatter Podcast about her recent book, entitled “The Global Citizenship Industry with Kristin Surak.” Dr Surak's work was cited by Deutsche Welle in an article entitled "Why are 'golden visa' schemes being scrapped?".

Professor Sam Friedman published a report with PhD student Victoria Gronwald, Andy Summers and Emma Taylor that was featured in The Guardian and published as an III working paper titled "Tax flight? Britain’s wealthiest and their attachment to place". You can read the LSE announcement: Britain's super rich unlikely to move to 'boring' and 'culturally barren' tax havens. Their work was covered by several newspapers, including, The Business Times, The Guardian, The Edge, Malaysia and Bloomberg. (February 2024)

Dr Kristin Surak appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Thinking Allowed to talk about her new book on golden passports and the role of travel documents in an episode called "The Passport". Dr Kristin Surak was interviewed in the Spanish Magazine, Tinta Libre, on Golden Visas and Golden Passports and investment migration by Hugo de Camps Mora. Dr Kristin Surak's work was featured in DW in an article entitled "Why are 'golden visa' schemes being scrapped?".

The Times Literary Supplement ran a review by Ferdinand Mount of Dr Surak's new book on the sale of citizenship, entitled “Uncommon Wealth: Citizenship Globalism, and the Super-Rich.”

Dr Kristin Surak presented the paper “A Golden Ticket? Moving Beyond the Limits of the FATF/OECD Report on Investment Migration to Assess Key Risks” at the Fifth International Research Conference on Empirical Approaches to Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crime hosted by the Central Bank of the Bahamas. The audience included representatives from the IMF, the US Secret Service, the German Ministry of Finance, the Inter-American Development Bank, and HMRC. (February 2024)

Professor Paul Watt appeared in a South Korean news programme for MTN talking about development and gentrification in London in October 2023. (February 2024)

Foreign Affairs, the leading foreign policy magazine in the US, published a review essay about Dr Kristin Surak's new book. The extended discussion focuses on the geopolitical manoeuvres and risks involved in the sale of citizenship. 

Dr Kristin Surak's new book was also the subject of two extended review essays in MicroMega entitled 'Citadinanza in vendita', and in Sidecar entitled 'Selling Citizenship'. Her new book was also reviewed in Politics Today. (January 2024)

Dr Kristin Surak has also given a presentation at the American University of Dubai, also on her new book, and was featured in an interview with Keith ‘Stone’ Greaves on The Golden Passport and citizenship by  investment in the Caribbean on Radio Anguilla. (January 2024)

Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson conducted an interview with the Diyarbakır-based Cultural Studies for Peace Association (bakad), which has been documenting experiences of social inequality with a view to shedding light on the structural and cultural backdrop of these inequalities. The interview is about peace research, and Kurdish LGBTI+ experiences and peace and conflict. (January 2024)

Dr Gabriel Eidelman released a new report for policymakers on metropolitan governance in Canada, co-authored with the former mayor of Edmonton and published by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. The report can be downloaded from the project website, which also includes a fun video explainer for public audiences. Dr Eidelman also gave a panel presentation on Canadian cities and climate transitions at the CARE Climate Conference, hosted by Sciences Po in Paris. (December 2023)

Professor Paul Watt was quoted in the article "London is building more social housing - but that hardly helps", in the Berliner Morgenpost. Professor Watt was invited by the Southwark Group of Tenants Organisations to speak on "Council Housing: Time to Invest" with reference to giving evidence to the All-Party Council Housing Group of MPs. Professor Watt also spoke at Hackney Council on "The Housing Crisis and Mental Health" as part of Hackney Mental Health Week. (December 2023)

Dr Kristin Surak appeared in Michael Covel's podcast Trend Following to talk about global mobility, trends in international migration, and her new book. Listen on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Dr Surak's work on golden passports was also covered in the Montenegrin press in the article, "Za crnogorske ‘zlatne’ pasoše još se razmatra preko 400 prijava" [Over 400 Applications are Still Being Considered for Montenegrin ‘Golden Passports'.] (December 2023)

Dr Kristin Surak was invited by the Government of Grenada to present on the global market in citizenship by investment at their annual roundtable conference. Dr Surak presented on the topic "Investment Migration in a Changing Landscape". Dr Surak also gave invited talks in both Sweden ("Migration Industries in the World of Golden Passports.") and Germany ("Investment Migration: Empirical Developments in the Field."). (December 2023)

Professor Mike Savage spoke to The Guardian about how money can come between friends and family, in "Is the wealth gap ruining friendships?" (December 2023)

Professor Judy Wajcman's research was cited in an article from the Fast Company, entitled “Why did the metaverse die? Because Silicon Valley doesn’t understand the concept of fun.” (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak spoke with Jonathan Van Ness about the Golden Passport and how how to accentuate your citizenship no matter what it looks like. Listen to the episode of Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak appeared on the National Public Radio (NPR) programme 1A in the US for a 40-minute interview and radio-call in session on the ins and outs of citizenship by investment. Dr Surak talked about her new book and research into the world of golden passports and golden visas. (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was interviewed for the Australia Broadcast Corporation's program Late Night Live with Phillip Adams. The podcast covered Dr Surak’s new book and transformations in the world of citizenship by investment. (November 2023).
 
Dr Kristin Surak's essay “The Global Trade in Passports is the Latest Boom Industry Catering to the Superrich” was published in Jacobin. (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was quoted twice in The Economic Times (India). You can read “How Indians Setting Up Base in Critical Wealth Hubs Abroad Can Help India”, and “The World is Not Enough: Indians’ Global Wealth Hub Relocations Could Benefit India’s Economy”. (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was quoted in The Guardian, in two articles entitled “Dominica May Have Sold Thousands More ‘Golden Passports’ Than It Disclosed, Analysis Suggests.” and “Revealed: Thousands Who Bought ‘Golden Passports’ Through Dominica’s $1bn Scheme.” (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak’s research was mentioned in the OCCRP articles entitled  “Implausible Budget Numbers, Undisclosed Names Raise Red Flags about Dominica’s Citizenship-By-Investment Program,” and “Investigation Reveals Thousands Who Bought ‘Golden Passports’ From Dominica." (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was quoted in The Business Times (Singapore), in an article entitled “When Money Laundering Leaves a Stain on the Economy.” (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was quoted in Ca Media Digital (India), in an article entitled “Indians top charts in getting citizenship of rich countries." (November 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was quoted in ET Now, in an article entitled "Here's why 9.4 per cent of Indians are applying for Golden passport." (November 2023).

Dr Ayça Çubukçu was recently appointed as a Guest Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna. In this role, she will give a public lecture titled “On Left Internationalism,” and will be teaching a postgradaute course on internationalism at the University of Vienna in April 2023.

This summer, Dr Ayça Çubukçu taught as International Faculty at the “Reimagining Global Justice within and Through the University” summer school at the Central European University, Budapest. While at CEU, she participated in a public conversation with the philosopher Charles Taylor on the role of the public intellectual in the 21st century.

Dr Ayça Çubukçu gave a talk on her current work at the “Nations in Fragments: A Conference in Honour of Partha Chatterjee” at Columbia University in September 2023.

Dr Ayça Çubukçu spoke at the opening panel of the “Revolutionary International Law in Revolutionary Times” conference organised by the LSE Law School in September 2023. (November 2023)

Dr Rebecca Elliott has been awarded the 2023 Philip Leverhulme Prize in Sociology. With the support of the Leverhulme Prize, Rebecca will be launching a new project tentatively called "Commemorative Climates," which will be the subject of her second book. The project investigates how heritage conservation institutions are responding to climate change as they confront questions about what to preserve versus what to let go, and how to memorialise what cannot or will not be saved from coastal erosion, rising sea levels, or recurrent flooding. The project will examine how a destabilising climate complicates already fragile and contentious efforts to stabilise a historical narrative or a landscape and to render its artifacts durable. (October 2023)

Is AI really different this time? Professor Judy Wajcman recently guest lectured at University of Bristol’s Bristol Business School's Annual Future of Work Lecture. Catch up with the highlights here (October 2023).

LSE Sociology Course Tutor Dr Faiza Shaheen argues that we need serious proposals to address inequality in the Guardian article: 'Now it’s clear: hard work doesn’t make you rich. Surely that’s the death knell for the myth of social mobility.' Read here (October 2023).

Dr Sara Salem and Dr Mai Taha have launched a new website – Archive Stories – based on an ongoing project around community, radical and anticolonial archival practices.

"Archive Stories is a website about how to work with creative and non-traditional archives. We wanted to create a space for conversations about archiving beyond institutional archives, to think through the possibilities that open up when we imagine the archive as expansive and as encompassing everything around us. We designed this website with Frederick Kannemeyer, to reflect the idea of archiving as a creative practice. It is open access so that it is accessible beyond academic spaces, and designed in a way that allows you to make your way through without a set path. This website includes a collection of 23 archive stories, and we will add more each year."

If you or anyone in your networks are doing this type of work please do let either Sara (s.salem3@lse.ac.uk) or Mai (m.taha2@lse.ac.uk) know, as they are hoping to expand the project. Find the website here (October 2023).

Professor Sam Friedman's research on deflecting privilege was discussed on a Novara podcast on class. You can listen to the podcast here (October 2023).

LSE proudly appoints Professor Chetan Bhatt as Anthony Giddens Professor in Social Theory. This named chair was established in 2004 with a commitment to social theory addressing specific empirical issues. The chair has been previously held by Professor Paul Gilroy and Professor Judy Wajcman. It is an honour for the Department of Sociology to host this named chair, and a recognition of Professor Bhatt's contribution as a scholar and educator whose work brings social theory and philosophy into dialogue with urgent contemporary issues and major societal dynamics. Congratulations, Professor Bhatt! (October 2023).

Professor Chetan Bhatt was appointed earlier this Summer to be a panel member for the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Violence in Leicester, August-September 2022. The Independent Commission will investigate the reasons for the violence and community disharmony in Leicester in 2022. You can find out more here (October 2023).

Professors Sam Friedman and Mike Savage have succeeded in winning a prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship award to host Annette Lareau, from the University of Pennsylvania, in LSE Sociology from January to June 2024. Annette is one of the world’s leading qualitative researchers, renowned for her study of the impact of class and parenting practices. More recently, she has been conducting research on the family lives and strategies of wealthy American families, an interest which will fit closely with the social inequalities cluster in the Department. During her stay, Annette will be assisting with teaching qualitative methods, in working with Mike (and Maria-Luisa Mendez, Santiago, Chile) in editing an Oxford Handbook on the Sociology of Global Elites, and will be giving various talks. More information about her profile can be found here (October 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's new book 'The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires' was released last month, and looks into citizenship by investment programmes that feed on global inequalities of citizenship (October 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about the boom in demand for citizenship by investment in Turkey and why it is now half the global market in golden passports. Access here (October 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's new book was covered by The Economist in the Espresso article, “The Peculiar World of Golden Passports.” Access here (October 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was quoted in a piece by the leading business paper in India, The Economic Times, about her research in “A Passport to Everywhere.” Access here (October 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's new book was featured in an op-ed in the Times of India: “Too Rich to Afford a Bad Passport: Why Citizenship by Investment is Picking Up Pace.” Access here (October 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was interviewed on the New Books Podcast about The Golden Passport. Listen here (October 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak gave a talk entitled "Do Passports Pay Off? Assessing the Economic Outcomes of Citizenship by Investment Programs," investigating the positive and negative impacts of golden passport programmes, at the Free University in Berlin in a workshop on Offshore Finance in the International Political Economy (October 2023).

An essay by Dr Kristin Surak, based on her new book The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires has appeared in Jacobin Magazine. The essay traces the complex dynamics driving the global market in the sale of citizenship to the superrich. You can read it here (October 2023).

Congratulations to Dr Mahvish Ahmad, who has received the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant to cover activities for the project Revolutionary Papers (September 2023).

Revolutionary Papers is an international, transdisciplinary research and teaching initiative on anticolonial, anti-imperial and related left movement prints of the Global South. It includes over forty university-based researchers, as well as editors, archivists, and movement organizers from around the world. The initiative looks at the way that periodicals — including newspapers, magazines, cultural journals, pamphlets, and newsletters — played a key role in establishing new counter publics, social and cultural movements, institutions, political vocabularies and art practices. Operating as forums for critique and debate under conditions of intense repression, facilitated processes of decolonisation during colonialism and after the formal end of empire, into the neo-colonial era. Revolutionary Papers traces the ways that journals supported social, political and cultural reconstruction amidst colonial destruction, building alternative networks that circulated new political ideas and dared to imagine worlds after empire.

Visit the website here. 

Principal Investigators:
Dr Mahvish Ahmad, Department of Sociology, LSE
Dr Chana Morgenstern, Faculty of English, University of Cambridge
Dr Koni Benson, Department of History, University of the Western Cape

Dr Kristin Surak recently appeared in an Al Jazeera's AJ+ video for Instagram and TikTok, talking about her work on passports and inequality which will come out in her book, The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires, next month. So far, the video has received over 250,000 views and 13,000 likes. Watch here (September 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak recently published an op-ed on global inequality and the rise of Turkey in the market for citizenship by investment, in the German newspaper the Tagesspiegel. Read here (September 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak recently presented the paper "Inside the Citizenship Industry: How the Market in Golden Passport Works" at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, US (September 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's research on the sale of citizenship was also quoted in The Straits Times, in the article "Golden Passport: A Plan B for the Rich, a Rear Exit and Safe Haven for Crooks." Read here (September 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's soon-to-be released book has been reviewed in The Times of India, in the article ''Too rich to afford a bad passport: Why citizenship by investment is picking up pace''. Read here (September 2023).

Professor Judy Wajcman, Erin Young and Laila Sprejer of The Alan Turing Institute have published their research report ''Mind the Gender Gap: Inequalities in the Emergent Professions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science''. You can read the article here (September 2023).

Dr Faiza Shaheen recently commented on the government’s electoral strategy for the Guardian article "Can Sunak’s rightwing war on ‘woke’, migrants and the environment save the Tories?." Read here (September 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's research was discussed in the Hungarian Podcast ''Telepesk: Jobb volt, mint egy állampolgárság'' (''Settler: It was better than citizenship''), by Portfolio Podcast Lab. Listen here (August 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's research on golden visas and residence by investment programmes was covered in the Italian magazine Internazionale, in an article called ''Passaporti d’oro'' (''Golden Passports''). Read the article here (August 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak was interviewed for NPR's Marketplace about her work on citizenship by investment. Read the article here (August 2023).

Dr Kristin Surak's interview with Jacobin was featured in an article entitled ''Japan’s Long Stagnation Is a Case Study for the Future of Western Capitalism''. The article discusses the challenges Japan faces with economic stagnation, the legacy of Shinzo Abe, and the impact of militarism on politics. Read here (August 2023).

Professor Mike Savage's work was featured in the column by David Brooks in The New York Times in an opinion piece entitled ''What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?'' Read here (August 2023).

LSE Fellow Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson took part in a roundtable discussion, "Dis: orientation Plan", at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, on Orientalism and Middle Eastern queer art practices. Find out more here (July 2023). 

Dr Kristin Surak appeared on the panel "Uncovering the Offshore World", at the Oxford Martin School last month. Catch up with the panel here (July 2023).

 As part of the Horizon 2020 ENLIGHTENme programme, Dr Don Slater oversaw the activation of the first of three city lighting installations in Bologna. These installations are the result of a year-long ethnographic study and co-design process involving elderly populations and their caregivers. Following the Bologna installation, similar projects will be carried out in Amsterdam and Tartu. The installations are strategically placed in commonly frequented public areas and serve as experimental spaces for citizens to investigate the influence of lighting on their daily lives. Additionally, they aim to generate guidelines for municipal lighting specifically catered to the needs of the elderly (July 2023).

Dr Don Slater was interviewed on Today, Radio 4. Following the death by stabbing of a 15-year-old boy in Gateshead, local youth mounted a campaign for lighting along the well-used route where it occurred. Configuring Light is now working with the local community centre to support the campaign and offer research and design backup. Find the programme here (July 2023).

As part of Professor Mike Savage’s Siegfried Landshut Prize awarded by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research, two early career researchers have been nominated to visit Hamburg, with stipend and free accommodation. Following discussions with the Director, PhD students Maya Adereth and Marta Pagnini have been selected. Congratulations! (July 2023).