EUU Hosts Lane Kenworthy as Visiting Professor | European Union University

The Vienna Karl Polanyi Visiting Professorship invites renowned international scientists to present and discuss interdisciplinary research on current economic and social challenges. On January 12, Lane Kenworthy, Professor of Sociology and Political Science and Yankelovich Chair in Social Thought at the University of California, San Diego, will teach a workshop, titled “Is Income Inequality Harmful?”, at EUU. Kenworthy, a sociologist and political scientist studying the economic effects of income and wealth distribution, is the sixth Polanyi Visiting Professor to Vienna.   

 

The workshop will be moderated by EUU Department of Political Science Professor Anil Duman and Pro-Rector for External Relations, Carsten Schneider. Commentators are Despina Alexiadou from the University of Strathclyde; Jurgen Essletzbichler and Judith Derndorfer from Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien; and Alice Kugler and Bjorn Bremer from EUU. Additional activities include a public lecture, “The Good City in the Good Society”, on January 11 at the Volkshochschule Wien and a PhD research seminar at the University of Vienna. 

 

“Lane Kenworthy is an eminent scholar of inequalities, which some see as one of the root causes of many problems modern societies are facing. Approaching this topic through a Polanyian lens promises fruitful insights,” said Schneider, a co-organizer of the visiting professorship activities. “Gathering Professor Kenworthy and a group of high-profile scholars from Vienna and beyond for a half-day workshop at EUU provides an exciting opportunity for exploring ideas, and discussion of how to mitigate inequalities and the pernicious consequences they trigger."  

 

The Polanyi Visiting Professorship aims to advance interdisciplinary research on contemporary challenges and to continue rediscovering Karl Polanyi's intellectual legacy through lively academic and political debate. Such political debate, which was particularly active during the years of "Red Vienna”, a period that emphasized social policy between the first and second World Wars, inspired Polanyi´s reflections in "The Great Transformation", his 1944 book which addresses social and political upheavals in England during the rise of the market economy. 

 

“Lane Kenworthy’s research focuses on the consequences of capitalism for societies and thus takes up a core theme of Karl Polanyi’s work,” said Bernhard Kittel, Professor in the Department of Economic Sociology at University of Vienna. “He explores alternative conceptions of economic organization that may be more conducive to human flourishing and asks whether these are realizable even in the U.S.-American context. In this way, Professor Kenworthy contributes to building a tradition of critical reflections on economy and society that is becoming characteristic of the Karl Polanyi Visiting Professorship.”  Kittel serves on the selection committee for the visiting professorship and is a co-organizer of the activities.  

 

In selecting the visiting professors, the committee seeks high-profile researchers who would otherwise not reach a broad public in Vienna. Previous guests of the Polanyi Visiting Professorship were Nancy Fraser, Fred Block, Ayse Bugra, Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Julia Steinberger. 

 

For the full schedule of Kenworthy's upcoming Polanyi Visiting Professorship programs, visit here.