Ecological inequality includes such things as access to fresh air, clean water, lush vegetation, beautiful scenery, healthy and non-toxic food, clean living spaces—even sunlight. In many large Chinese cities, a lot of people hardly see the sun, and millions die as a result of air pollu­tion. Many people around the world work in noisy, physically […]

It has been shown in a growing body of recent research that social exclu­sion and rejection activate similar patterns in the brain as physical pain. Social exclusion is like a slap in your face. This is a real thing: You sub­ject someone even to a small slight or rejec­tion, and not only do they exp­er­ience

According to a recent study published in Science, you can take a female rhesus monkey (or “macaque”), put her in a terrarium, then gradually add more monkeys over time, the one who was there first will then gener­ally have the highest social status while the newcomers will have lower status—much like in Norbert Elias’ and

I have a younger relative who lives with schizophrenia (unfortunately not the first or only case in the family). If he doesn’t take heavy medications he can hear voices, hallucinate and easily get overwhelmed. His medica­tion makes him tired and leaves him with a short attention span, so it’s difficult for him to work within

This first and most obvious form of inequality in our days revolves aro­und income, wealth and access to material resources; the ability to acquire goods and services from others. Because material wealth has long been the main focus of struggles for equality, it merits less discussion here. It is, of course, no less important. For

Unfor­tunately we live in a universe where equality is an even trickier and more complex goal than freedom. By its very nature, equality is rid­den with yet greater inherent contradictions, with yet more intricate para­­doxes. Negative rights (“freedom from”) are less com­­plicated than positive rights and entitlements (“freedom to”). It is eas­ier to draw consistent

Introduction: A History without Time Chapter theme song: Time, Hans Zimmerman.   Q: What is history? HF: History is the past. But it can only be told in the present. Of an infinity of possible stories and interpretations of past events, we somehow conjure up specific histories. Our understanding of these past events propose meaningful