Professor Jane Humphries, London School of Economics, will be conducting the Annual Public Lecture of the Royal Economic Society entitled:

Do economists care? The struggle to value caring work.

Abstract:

While Adam Smith defined economics in terms of wealth creation, for Alfred Marshall it concerned ‘the ordinary business of life’. Ever-present and universal, caring work is very ordinary, but it adds to wellbeing, and enhances productivity. Yet commercialised caring is neglected and undervalued, while unpaid care work is judged ‘beyond the production boundary’, so that although market equivalents suggest its value reaches a whopping 20-60 per cent of GDP, depending on country and attribution methodology, it remains outside National Income Accounts. Economic historians have done no better in recognising unpaid household work, despite its importance in the less-commercialised past. Inspired by researchers who have assigned value to caring and housework in today’s economies, I value the work performed unpaid at key dates in British history. A historical account enhances our understanding of ordinary life but also nuances interpretations of Smithian enrichment.

Booking Details:

The event is free to attend via Zoom, please follow the link to the Eventbrite page for booking.

For further information, please contact: tanya.wilson@glasgow.ac.uk

Fight, Flight, Mimic (academic.oup.com/book/56358) is the first systematic study of deceptive mimicry in the context of wars. Deceptive mimicry — the manipulation of individual or group identity—includes passing off as a different individual, as a member of a group to which one does not belong, or, for a group, to ‘sign’ its action as another group. Mimicry exploits the reputation of the model it mimics to avoid capture (flight), to strike undetected at the enemy (fight), or to hide behind or besmirch the reputation of the model group (‘false-flag’ operations). These tactics have previously been described anecdotally, mixed in with other ruses de guerre, but we show that mimicry is a distinct form of deception with its own logic and particularly consequential effects on those involved. The book offers a theory and game-theoretic model of mimicry, an overview of its use through history, and a deep empirical exploration of its modern manifestations through several case studies by leading social scientists. The chapters cover mimicry in the context of the Northern Ireland conflict, terrorism campaigns in 1970s Italy, the height of the Iraq insurgency, the Rwandan genocide, the Naxalite rebellion in India, and jihadi discussion forums on the Internet.

Old Library, All Souls College from 5pm-7pm

All welcome to attend, no booking necessary.

· Showcase of current Oxford MSt/MPhil research: Approx. 5 Masters students will present their dissertation topics for discussion and feedback.

· Mathieu Farizier (Jesus College, Oxford): “‘Quels sont les moyens de rendre plus politique un texte qui ne l’est pas assez ?’ Quintane’s Poetic Propaganda, the Marxian Revolution as Double Bind”

5pm in the Hovenden Room, All Souls College.

Refreshments will be provided.

· Maddison Sumner (Robinson College, Cambridge): “A Glitch in the Matrix? Transclasse Confrontations of Meritocracy”

· Duarte Bénard da Costa (Peterhouse College, Cambridge): “On Origins: Julia Kristeva”

· Tobias Barnett (Robinson College, Cambridge): “La Pathologie positive: Broussais, Algeria, and the Problem of Conditionability”

5pm in the Hovenden Room, All Souls College.

Refreshments will be provided.