Mike Savage: The geo-politics of global inequality

My paper is a comparative sociological analysis of global inequality trends, seeking to unravel how the decline of inequality between nations at the global level (as discussed by Milanovic) is associated with rising inequality within many nations (as discussed by Piketty and the World Wealth and Income database team). I will argue that much inequality research has over-fixated on national comparisons, which have obscured processes operating at different scales, and especially the revival of broader 'imperial fields'. I will pull out the implications of my argument by showing how we can understand the Brexit phenomenon in the UK as an imperialist, rather than nationalist current.