William Beveridge and Social Biology at LSE

Chris Renwick (University of York) will speak on the history of sociology in Britain and why William Beveridge was interested in the role of biology within social science in the 1920s and 30s.

Dr Renwick’s first book, British Sociology’s Lost Biological Roots: A History of Futures Past (2012), recovered the forgotten history of British sociologists’ engagement with biology during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is currently exploring how biologists and social scientists were brought together by a shared interest in topics such as intelligence, fertility, nutrition, and poverty, as well as funding bodies such as the Rockefeller Foundation, in a set of debates about the nature of society and social structure.

Chris Renwick is a historian of Britain since the early nineteenth century. His main area of expertise is the relationship between biology, social science, and politics, in particular how the interaction of the three has shaped the way we think about, study, and govern society. His work on these subjects has received international and interdisciplinary recognition. While his first book was shortlisted for the British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams Memorial Prize in 2013, his most recent book, Bread for All: The Origins of the Welfare State, has been long listed for the Orwell Book Prize and short listed for the Longman-History Today Book Prize in 2018.

Professor Mike Savage is Martin White Professor at the Department of Sociology and Director of International Inequalities Institute, LSE.

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