Ruth Levitas
Ruth Levitas is emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bristol. She is well known internationally for her research on utopia and utopian studies.
Her book, The Concept of Utopia, addresses the notion of the ideal society throughout European history. Her follow-on book, Utopia as Method: The Imaginary Reconstitution of Society, makes the case that 'utopia should be understood as a method rather than a goal.' She has formulated a program of sociology which is fundamentally utopian-focused in conventional sociological discourse.
In The Inclusive Society?: Social Exclusion and New Labour, Levitas introduced the idea of social exclusion as part of the new political language. She also introduced the concepts of MUD, SID, and RED, as tools for analysing social exclusion.