What advantages do wealthy families enjoy and what challenges do they face? How does gender shape power dynamics in elite circles?
In this event, Professor Annette Lareau will talk about her current study, Families and Money, where she uses qualitative methods to explore the complex social processes that shape the dynamics of high-net-worth families. She will particularly focus on the issue of gender in her discussion and argue that, even in elite families, women continue to have socially inferior positions to men in terms of wealth and power.
The event will examine a host of related issues including gender dynamics (and tensions) surrounding wealth and philanthropic giving in families, particularly when the wealth and economic expertise of the wife exceeds that of her husband. Professor Lareau highlights the “stickiness” of gender in shaping these family dynamics, thereby complicating and stigmatising the formidable economic advantages these women hold. Following her presentation, Sibylle Gollac and Dr Katharina Hecht will join the discussion.
Meet our speakers and chair
Annette Lareau (@AnnetteLareau) is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of award-winning books Unequal Childhoods and Home Advantage. Her most recent book, Listening to People: A Practical Guide to Interviewing, Participant-Observation, Data Analysis, and Writing It All Up, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2021.
Sibylle Gollac is a Research Fellow in sociology at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, CRESPPA-CSU). With Céline Bessière, she is the author of the book The Gender of Capital: How Families Perpetuate Wealth Inequality.
Aliya Rao (@aliyahrao) is an Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology in the Department of Methodology and a Faculty Associate at the International Inequalities Institute. She is also author of Crunch Time: How Married Couples Confront Unemployment.
Luna Glucksberg (@luna_inequality) is a Research Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. She is an urban anthropologist looking at inequality and socio-economic stratification in contemporary society.
More about this event
The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many of the School's departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.
The Department of Sociology (@LSEsociology) at LSE seeks to produce sociology that is public-facing, fully engaged with London as a global city, and with major contemporary debates in the intersection between economy, politics and society – with issues such as financialisation, inequality, migration, urban ecology, and climate change.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEInequalities
Featured image (used in source code with watermark added): Photo by Daniel Barnes on Unsplash.
Podcast & Video
A podcast of this event is available to download from Families and Money: exploring gender inequality in elite families.
A video of this event is available to watch at Families and Money: exploring gender inequality in elite families.
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.