Markets, Policy and Inequality

THE MARKETS, POLICY AND INEQUALITY (MPI) GROUP IS INTERDEPARTMENTAL. GROUP LEADERS ARE FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND THE DEPARTMENT OF MODERN HISTORY, POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. MEMBERS ARE DRAWN FROM THESE DEPARTMENTS AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND PLANNING, THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, THE SCHOOL OF LAW, THE FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS.

The extension of competition and markets into new aspects of life, marketisation, is a defining feature of recent decades. This extension not only involves the ‘winding back’ of the state, but often the expansion of state power to foster commodification in areas of life previously outside markets and the introduction of competition into activities previously organised according to different principles. It also involves a reorganisation of relationships within and between countries. These changes simultaneously create new consumer choices and new forms of discipline, reshaping governance, control and the distribution of resources.

The use of markets within social welfare, the expansion of private finance and the growing power of transnational corporations has implications for inequality, democracy and culture. We examine the social implications of these processes, drawing together a range of social science perspectives including economic geography, social theory, economic and political sociology, and policy studies.

Our key research areas include:

• marketisation within the welfare state
• changes to work, employment and workfare
• housing, planning and spatial inequality
• the rise of finance and inequalities of income and wealth
• social attitudes to inequality, democracy and welfare
• globalisation, global inequalities and post-colonialism
• neoliberalism and responses to neoliberalism