Seminar title:'Class, status and the social division of labour: measuring socioeconomic position in epidemiology'

Lunchtime Departmental Seminars

February 14th, 2018 13:00-14:00 Galton LT, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HB

Speakers: Professors Mel Bartley and David Blane

Summary:

David Blane will discuss whether or not Emile Durkheim's interest in the social division of labour can add anything to Karl Marx's ideas of social class and Max Weber's distinction between social class and social status. Mel Bartley will consider the measurement of social class and social status in terms of their theoretical derivation and empirical validation, using as examples ONS Socio-economic classification & its mainland sister European Socio-economic classification and the Oxford measure of social status & its Cambridge predecessor. One-third of the session will be given to questions & discussion.

About the speakers:

Mel Bartley has a background in philosophy, sociology and social policy. She is professor emerita of University College London and founder & former director (2008-12) of ESRC International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health - ICLS. Her research interests include the sociology of scientific knowledge, health inequalities, measurement of socioeconomic position. David Blane has a background in medicine, sociology and public health. He is professor emeritus of Imperial College London and former (2008-12) deputy director of ICLS. His research interests include social class differences in all-cause mortality, social gerontology, social-biological transitions.