Ruth Levitas

Ruth Levitas (born 15 May 1949 in London) is emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bristol.^[1] She is well known internationally for her research on utopia and utopian studies.^[2]

Her book, The Concept of Utopia (1990), addresses the notion of the ideal society throughout European history. Her follow-on book, Utopia as Method: The Imaginary Reconstitution of Society (2013), makes the case that 'utopia should be understood as a method rather than a goal.'^[3] She has formulated a program of sociology which is fundamentally utopian-focused in conventional sociological discourse.^[4]

In The Inclusive Society?: Social Exclusion and New Labour (2005), Levitas introduced the idea of social exclusion as part of the new political language.^[5] She also introduced the concepts of MUD (the moral underclass discourse), SID (the social integration discourse), and RED (the redistribution discourse), as tools for analysing social exclusion.^[6]

Honors

In 2012 Levitas was awarded the Lyman Tower Sargent Distinguished Scholar Award by the North American Society for Utopian Studies.^[7]