The Plutocratic City: Elite Formation, Power and Space in Contemporary London
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
No booking required
Professor Roger Burrows, Newcastle University, will give this year's Annual Social Science lecture. A drinks reception will follow the lecture - attendance is free, and registration is required via Eventbrite. The abstract for the talk is as follows:
In this paper I examine elite formation in relation to 'money power' within a specific urban arena, the city of London. My primary aim is to consider the impact of the massive concentration of such power upon the city's political life, municipal and shared resources and social equity. I argue that objectives of city success have come to be identified and aligned with the presence of wealth elites while wider goals, of access to essential resources for citizens, have withered. A diverse national and global wealth-elite is drawn to a city with an almost unique cultural infrastructure, fiscal regime and ushering 'butler class' of politicians and interlocutors. I consider how London is being made for money and the monied in physical, political and cultural terms. I conclude that the conceptualisation of elites as wealth and social power formations operating within urban spatial arenas is important for capturing the nature of new social divisions and changes.