51ƷCenter for Global Humanities presents “Economic Inequality from the Stone Age to the Future”
For thousands of years, economic inequality has been a defining feature of civilization. Only violent shocks, such as mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse and catastrophic plagues, have significantly narrowed the gap between rich and poor.
So says scholar Walter Scheidel, who will present a lecture titled “Economic Inequality from the Stone Age to the Future” at the 51Ʒ’s Center for Global Humanities on Monday, April 30 at 6:00 p.m. at the WCHP Lecture Hall in Parker Pavilion on the 51ƷPortland Campus.
Scheidel will trace the history of income and wealth inequality over the long run of human history, while considering what the lessons of the past can teach us about the prospects of reducing inequality in our more stable modern world.
A professor in the humanities, classics and history, and fellow in human biology at Stanford University, Scheidel focuses his scholarship on pre-modern social and economic history, historical demography and the comparative global history of labor regimes, state formation and inequality. He is the author, editor or co-editor of 18 books, has published more than 200 articles, chapters and book reviews, and has lectured in 26 different countries. His most recent book, The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century, was published by Princeton University Press in 2017.
This is the final lecture of the 2017-2018 season for the Center for Global Humanities. In total, nine scholars will have visited this academic year, presenting lectures that are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online.
To learn more about the Center for Global Humanities, visit www.une.edu/cgh
To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions