Jeremy Waldron (NYU), who is delivering the Holmes Lectures at Harvard Law School this coming week, will give a talk to the Harvard Legal Theory Forum on the topic “Poverty and Democracy” on Tuesday, October 6 in Pound 332.
Prof. Waldron will speak about the tension between modern, representative capitalist democracy and distributive justice: is it an inherent feature of modern democracy that there be deep structural material and power inequalities? At what point along the continuum do we move from living in a uncomfortably unequal democracy to not living in a democracy at all? How much inequality and poverty is compatible with democracy?
Relevant background reading is Waldron’s short essay in the 15 July 1999 London Review of books on “The Plight of Poor in the Midst of Plenty.”
Lunch will be provided.
If you wish to attend, please RSVP to hltf@law.harvard.edu.
1 response so far ↓
Seattle DUI Attorney // Oct 9th 2009 at 11:45 pm
Do you feel that that ultimately capitalism is leading a sharp steady increase in poverty lines? Or do you forsee it as a way to get out of the poverty levels?