Event

Penn Sociology's Emily Hannum and Robin Leidner will participate in the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism annual conference.

Please register for this event here.

As labor markets become increasingly stratified, the role of social rights in mitigating inequality is uncertain. Some businesses may support a greater role for government in providing certain benefits, precisely to gain greater flexibility in how they compensate employees. On the other hand, the decline of a broad middle class in many places may well undermine the political forces that help sustain social programs. Privatization in many arenas can also exacerbate the forces of inequality.

The panelists in this seventh annual DCC conference grapple with these questions from both national and global perspectives, as they consider the obstacles and opportunities for preserving and expanding social rights in the contexts of the recent financial crisis, the increased mobility of workers across national borders, the growth of low-paid service-sector jobs in such fields as domestic labor, and the emergence of “middle-income countries” within the global economy.

Click here for more information about conference speakers and events.