JRF Bradford debate: Is inequality our greatest social evil?
Next week (10 December) Bradford hosts the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's final event in a series of live debates on social evils of the 21st Century. Speaking on the theme of inequality, some of the UK’s key commentators present their ideas, with an open invitation to the people of Bradford to join the debate. According to the three speakers, consumerism and wealth accumulation need to be replaced as motivators in society before any progress can be made on inequality.
Originally a teacher and social worker, Jeremy Seabrook has been a writer for 40 years. He insists that, in the face of extraordinary imbalances in society, the myth that accumulating wealth is the supreme human purpose needs to be replaced before any improvement will occur. Seabrook claims: "All the conventions that declare wealth as progress, and money the source of all hope, have to be subject to question and scrutiny. Poverty is not the problem in a world of such abundance, wealth is."
Ferdinand Mount is a prolific author who has been both a political columnist of The Spectator and head of the No.10 Policy Unit under Margaret Thatcher. He looks at the causes and possible cures of inequalities and how to remedy them. "How are we to give the condemned and excluded a real stake in society, a genuine sense both of participation and self-worth? Is not equality of treatment often easier and more effective than carefully targeted benefits?" he asserts.
Chris Creegan, Research Director at the National Centre for Social Research, is convinced that until the problems of individualism, consumerism and greed at the heart of contemporary society can be reconciled, life opportunities will continue to be lost, limited and wasted. Creegan claims: "We need a democracy where our individual aspirations for a better life for ourselves and our shared aspirations for equality are not seen as mutually exclusive." Creegan is also the co-author of Modern-day social evils: the voices of unheard groups, published by the JRF.
Atif Imtiaz, local community activist, will respond to their views. A key figure in Bradford, he has been involved in community activism since the late 1980s. He wrote a thesis on Muslim identity politics in social psychology for the London School of Economics and now works as an equality and diversity manager in the Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust.
JRF Director Julia Unwin sets the context of the social evils initiative: "Our founder, Joseph Rowntree, wanted the trusts he set up to address society’s problems as they changed over time. Through our online public consultation last year, thousands of people told us what concerned them most about Britain and there was widespread concern about inequality. We also sought out people whose views are rarely heard who came up with very similar concerns but added a different perspective: a shared sense of truncated life opportunities which they felt had been limited, lost and wasted, often resulting in entrenched exclusion."
The event will take place at the Norcroft Centre, University of Bradford, on Wednesday 10 December which starts at 6pm and concludes with a drinks reception between 8pm and 9pm. The debate will be opened up to the audience and a downloadable podcast of the event will be available at www.socialevils.org.uk the following Monday.
