Spring 2008
Democracy and Inequality: Political Challenges in the 21st Century
The 2007-08 Public Policy Lecture Series at Reed College addresses the complex challenges posed to democratic politics by inequality—global and domestic, economic, political, social, and technological.
Nancy Folbre
“The Qualities and Inequalities of Care”
Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 p.m., Eliot Hall chapel
Nancy Folbre is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Folbre’s lecture explores the peculiar economic characteristics of the “care sector”—in which women provide a disproportionate share of the care for our children, sick, disabled, and elderly. How might we reorganize to improve quality of care and equality of opportunity? Folbre has worked as a consultant to the United Nations Human Development Office and the World Bank. Her forthcoming book is titled Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family.
Sponsored by the Elizabeth C. Ducey Political Science Lecture Fund.
Listen to the lecture
Larry Diamond
“The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies”
Thursday, March 6, 7:30 p.m., Vollum lecture hall
Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. In this talk, Diamond assesses the state of democratic progress throughout the world, and lays out strategic principles for defending and advancing global democracy. In 2004, Diamond was a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority, working to write the Iraqi constitution. He is a founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and a co-director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Sponsored by the Munk-Darling Lecture Fund in International Relations.
Shamus Roller
“How Sewer Systems Segregated America”
Thursday, April 3, 7:30 p.m., Eliot Hall chapel
Shamus Roller is the executive director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, and director of the Coalition on Regional Equality. Roller’s lecture details the use of regional planning to combat the spread of racial and socioeconomic inequality. A Reed graduate from 2000, he also received a Jurist Doctorate from Hastings Law.
Sponsored by the Twohy-Benezet Memorial Lecture Fund.
Linda McClain
“What's so Hard about Sex Equality?”
Thursday, April 10, 7:30 p.m., Eliot Hall chapel
Linda McClain is a professor of law at Boston University, focusing on family law and feminist legal theory. In this lecture, McClain shares her thoughts and research on social cooperation between men and women. She is the author of The Place of Families: Fostering Capacity, Equality, and Responsibility. She is currently working on several book projects, including Rights and Irresponsibility (with Boston University law professor James Fleming), and Why Is Equality So Hard?
Sponsored by the Elizabeth C. Ducey Political Science Lecture Fund.