Scholar in Residence at the MPIfG, Hanna Kuusela, is giving a lecture series titled “The Redistributive Ethos in Crisis: Three Imaginaries Dismantling the Welfare State.” In three lectures on May 5, May 26, and June 2, 2026, the sociologist explores challenges to some of the normative principles of the Finnish welfare state. Kuusela is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Jyväskylä and works at the intersection of economic power and cultural self-interpretation: Who belongs to the wealthy? How do they legitimize their wealth? And what does this reveal about the society in which they live?

Jens Beckert will join the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton for a year beginning in September. He is one of 21 scholars selected for the 2026/27 academic year from a pool of more than 600 applicants. In Princeton, Beckert will work on his book project The Society Capital Creates, which examines the social and political consequences of the increasing concentration of wealth and power of capital.

Globally, women accumulate less wealth than men. The gender wealth gap is most pronounced at the top of the wealth distribution. However, little is known about how wealthy men and women actually manage their wealth. In her talk, Céline Bessière (Paris-Dauphine University) shares insights from her ethnography of wealthy families and discusses how tax strategies – including estate planning and tax migration – are gendered, with consequences for wealth inequality.