Equal is not enough. Challenging differences and inequalities in contemporary societies
01/12/2010 - 03/12/2010
The Policy Research Centre on Equal Opportunities (PRCEO) cordially invites scholars from various disciplines and approaches to participate in the Second 'Equal is not enough' Conference 'Challenging differences and inequalities in contemporary societies'.
Despite the high level of welfare in liberal-democratic societies, these societies still question themselves on the meaning of equality, the nature and causes of inequalities, as well as on the kinds of policies that are likely to reduce them. Within the current global context, characterised by rapid movements of people, goods, capital and ideas, inequalities appear to be less tied to specific places than only a few decades ago, and appear increasingly structured along identity axes, such as gender, ethnicity, age, (dis)ability, sexual preference, class.
The key role that identities play in shaping inequality is indicated by the thriving political and academic debates on such concepts as diversity, multiculturalism, integration, intersectionality, autonomy, empowerment and inclusion. These notions have inspired new approaches to equality policies, which today face the challenging task of fostering equality. They need to find shared principles while taking into account increasingly complex individual and collective positions, expectations and needs embedded in multiple social, economic and political relations crossing national borders and evolving over time. The great difficulty that equality faces derives from, on the one hand, the increasing recognition of the legitimate existence of ‘difference’ along multiple identity lines and, on the other, the need to disconnect such differences from power inequalities, thus establishing fairer institutional arrangements for all.
This multidisciplinary conference wants to contribute to the understanding of the causes, consequences and the dynamics of inequality along socio-demographic lines in contemporary societies and of the policies to combat it. It addresses grounds of inequality such as gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, disability, class, and age, as well as their comparison and intersection.
Reflecting different disciplinary perspectives, the conference is structured in four streams: the law, public policies, organisations and the life course. Each stream has its own specific call, which can be found on the conference website, or by following these links:
Stream 1: Law is not enough
Stream 2: Challenging differences and inequalities in and through policies Stream 3: Equal Opportunities throughout the life course
Stream 4: Diversity is not enough: Interrogating difference and inequality in organisations
Key note speeches will be given by Prof. dr. Myra Marx Ferree (University of Wisconsin, US), Prof. dr. Sara Ahmed (Goldsmiths, University of London, England) and Prof. dr. Christa Tobler (Leiden University, the Netherlands).
All information can be found on the conference website: www.equalisnotenough.org.
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