What is social class and why is it so difficult to get rid of it? The thrive for acquiring a higher status than others appears to be a universal human trait. And class differences aren’t superficial traits, but strong structures that shape our culture, values and choices. To understand this is vital for those who want to change society. Hanno Sauer claims that combating class with greater economic equality is futile. Worse, it will lead to non-financial status factors becoming even more important in class, rendering class even more based on ‘worthless’ factors. Sauer will be interviewed bij Bart Geeraedts for the ISVW Philosophy Podcast.
Hanno Sauer is ‘the new star of public philosophy’ (Sternstunde Philosophie). He is assistant professor Philosophy and teaches ethics at the Utrecht University. Earlier he published Moral. Good and Evil from Prehistoric to Polarisation and his current book Class, the origin of top and bottom is recently translated into Dutch.