Society
essay
Social psychology
Don’t let them fool you
The fear of being duped is ubiquitous, but excessive scepticism makes it harder to trust one another and cooperate
Tess Wilkinson-Ryan
essay
Virtues and vices
The virtue of discretion
When the rules break down, you must judge what to do on your own. Discretion is necessary for navigating the muddle of life
Lorraine Daston
video
Human rights and justice
Thirty years after one teenager shot another, is it time to forgive?
28 minutes
essay
Human rights and justice
Abolish life sentences
It is unjust, cruel and profoundly wasteful to consign a person to prison for life. A decent society must not do it
Judith Lichtenberg
video
Fairness and equality
How the first woman of colour to be elected to the US Congress remade education
21 minutes
video
Economics
We all play by economic rules set by men. What could a feminist economics look like?
30 minutes
essay
Poverty and development
A fairly fed world
Last year, 200 million children did not get enough to eat, yet it would be cheap and easy for the world to feed them all
Sharman Apt Russell
essay
Fairness and equality
Poor sleep
Being on-call, out-of-sync and underslept is not just personal but a pervasive political injustice. Bold change is needed
Jonathan White
video
Fairness and equality
With barely a possession to his name, Rabbit builds a life around fighting corruption
10 minutes
essay
Politics and government
High crimes and cabals
The official definition of corruption – the abuse of public office for private gain – does little to capture the reality
Sudhir Chella Rajan
essay
Bioethics
We are all frail
We should be able to acknowledge that disabilities can cause pain and suffering without disabled people feeling dehumanised
Tom Shakespeare
essay
Economics
Stock-picking for humanity
Everyone on the planet has a stake in making investment more ethical. What’s new is that they have the power to do so too
Ellen Quigley
video
Human rights and justice
How did the NRA transform from a sporting group to a mighty political force?
10 minutes
video
Personality
Meet the British bouncer in LA on an expired visa who has no time for immigrants
10 minutes
video
Demography and migration
The hopes and fears of the migrants selling souvenirs in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower
15 minutes
essay
Genetics
The genes we’re dealt
The new field of social genomics can be used by progressives to combat racial inequality or by conservatives to excuse it
Erik Parens
essay
Gender
Angels in the market
The heart-tug tactics of 1950s ads steered white American women away from activism into domesticity. They’re still there
Ellen Wayland-Smith
essay
Work
The flexible work fallacy
Breaking free of the 9-to-5 was originally a feminist project. So how did it become part of oppressive 24/7 work culture?
Sarah Stoller
video
Human rights and justice
Lockdown is a way of life for the US asylum-seekers living in churches
15 minutes
video
Cosmopolitanism
A pop-up charity shop in a luxury department store melds art, commerce and justice
10 minutes
idea
Rituals and celebrations
We need highly formal rituals in order to make life more democratic
Antone Martinho-Truswell
idea
Gender and identity
What we can learn about respect and identity from ‘plurals’
Elizabeth Schechter
essay
Global history
Vive la révolution!
Must radical political change generate uncontainable violence? The French Revolution is both a cautionary and inspiring tale
Jeremy Popkin
video
Fairness and equality
Win-win solutions are a fantasy: in reality, progress creates both winners and losers
5 minutes