Thinking Allowed

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Science & Nature

BBC Radio 4 LW

Thinking Allowed: The Underclass

The Underclass

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, The Underclass

The Underclass: Laurie Taylor explores the rise and fall of a vexed concept.

The ‘Underclass’:  Laurie Taylor explored a vexed concept which has engaged social scientists, philanthropists, journalists, policy makers and politicians. He’s joined by Loic Wacquant, Professor of Sociology at the University of California Berkeley, and author of a magisterial study which traces the rise and fall of a scarecrow category which, he argues, had a lemming effect on a generation of scholars of race and poverty,  obscuring more than it illuminated. They're joined by Baroness Ruth Lister, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough University, who charts the way in which the notion of an underclass travelled to the UK, via the New Right sociologist, Charles Murray. She describes its impact on the debate about 'welfare' dependency,  across the political spectrum,  and argues for a 'politics of renaming' one which accords respect and recognition to people who experience poverty.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Thinking Allowed

The Underclass

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4