Charles Booth and the Social Sciences

This series of lectures, which coincides with the 2016 LSE Research Festival, is part of a wider LSE celebration of pioneering social scientist Charles Booth, who died in 1916, and whose original survey into life and labour in London is held in the LSE Library.

Booth's investigation of poverty in London provides a key example both of the creative development of social science and of the ways in which research may be used to have a positive impact on society. This series of lectures brings together a group of scholars from a range of disciplines to explore the substance of Booth's ideas as well as his broader legacy for the social sciences and for contemporary social analysis. 

This lecture will explore why Booth's work was both pioneering social science in its time, and relevant to today's research agenda on understanding poverty and inequality.

Mary Morgan is Professor of History and Philosophy of Economics.

Nicola Lacey is School Professor of Law, Gender and Social Policy, attached to the Departments of Law and Social Policy and to the Gender Institute.

The International Inequalities Institute at LSE (@LSEInequalities) brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.