Dr Luna Glucksberg

Dr Luna Glucksberg

Visiting Fellow

International Inequalities Institute

Connect with me

Languages
English, Italian
Key Expertise
Anthropology, Elites

About me

Luna Glucksberg is an urban anthropologist looking at inequality and socio-economic stratification in contemporary society. She has worked extensively on elites and how they reproduce; on the roles of women and family offices in the reproduction of dynastic families; and on how philanthropy can be used by elites to strengthen their own family dynamics.

She is currently leading an international project aiming to challenge the rise in wealth inequality by collecting and examining examples of communities that have successfully resisted the processes that funnel wealth up and away from them. Where and when, how and why, have groups been able to stand up against the systems and patterns that systematically extract wealth from their local communities? How have they managed to reverse them? What can be learned from these examples? How do we apply those lessons in other locations, under different conditions?

The project will bring together a review of documented practices that have successfully challenged neoliberal models of accumulation and dispossession, including co-operative models, local wealth building strategies, housing cooperatives and examples of UBI (Universal Basic Income). It will then develop four in-depth ethnographic case studies of examples of successful practices, of realities that have managed to successfully deviate, and challenge, the dominant narrative of wealth extraction..

Prior to joining the LSE III, Luna gained her degree from UCL and PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London. She then joined the Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR) as a Research Associate at Goldsmiths, where she maintains a Fellowship. She sits on the Advisory Board for Transparency International (TI) UK and has contributed to both blogs and national newspaper articles on issues related to the elites.

Publications

Articles in Refereed Journals

**Glucksberg, L. 2018 ‘A gendered ethnography of elites: women, inequality, and social reproductionFocaal (2018) https://doi.org/10.3167/fcl.2018.810102.

Glucksberg, L and Burrows, R. 2017 "Family Offices and the Contemporary Infrastructures of Dynastic Wealth", Sociologica (2017)

**Glucksberg, L. and Burrows, R. 2016 “Family offices and global elites” Sociologica 2(2016) DOI10.2383/85289

Ferreri, M. and Glucksberg, L. 2016 “Fighting Gentrification in the Neoliberal University: Displacing Communities, Researchers and the Very Possibility of Radical CritiqueSociological Review Online.

Glucksberg, L. 2016 “A view from the top: A view from the top: unpacking capital flows and foreign investment in the Alpha Territories of LondonCity pp. 248-265, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2016.1143686

Glucksberg, L. 2014 “We was regenerated out”: regeneration, recycling and de-valuing communities. Valuation Studies 2(2), pp. 97-118, DOI: 10.3384/vs.2001-5992.142297

Chapters

Glucksberg, L. 2018 “Gendering the elites: an ethnographic approach to elite women’s lives and the re-production of inequality” New Directions in Elite Studies. Korsnes, O., Heilbron, J., Hjellbrekke, F. and Savage, M. (eds.), Routledge Advances in Sociology, Abingdon: Routledge.

Glucksberg, L. 2017 “The Blue Bit, that Was My Bedroom": Rubble, Displacement and Regeneration in Inner-City London” Public/Social Rental Housing and Urban Renewal: New Inequalities and Insecurities? Watt, P and Smets, P. (eds.), Bingley: Emerald.

Atkinson, R., Burrows, R., Glucksberg, L. Kei Ho, H., Knowles, C. and Rhodes, D. 2017 “Minimum City? The Deeper Impacts of the "Super-Rich" on Urban Life ” in Cities and the Super-Rich Forrest, R. and Wissink, B. (eds), Oxford: Routledge.

Working Paper

Glucksberg, L. 2016 “Gendering the elites: an ethnographic approach to elite women’s lives and the re-production of inequality” International inequalities Institute, LSE, Working Paper 7, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31390.13123.

Book Reviews

Glucksberg, L. 2018 Leader Communities: The Consecration of Elites in Djursholm by Holmqvist, Mikael. Columbia: University Press, 2017. British Journal of Sociology. First published: 26 March 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12669

Glucksberg, L. 2014 Fairness, Class and Belonging in Contemporary England by Katherine Smith. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. American Anthropologist 116 (4), pp. 892–893. DOI: 10.1111/aman.12162_28.

Blogs

(2015) “London elites are also being priced out of their homes – here’s why it matters” The Conversation October 20, 2015.

(2014) “On the frontline: Family Offices and the lives of the super-rich” Discover Society December 1, 2014.

Reports

Glucksberg, L. (2018) “Ethnographic exploration of the socio-economic transformation of the Basque country” ALC/UPV (Agirre Lehendekaria Centre and University of Pais Vasco).

Atkinson, R., Roger Burrows, Glucksberg, L. Ho, H.K., Knowles, C., Rhodes, D., Webber, R. (2016) ‘International Flows of Capital into London Property’ SPERI (Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute) Global Political Economy Brief.