The Great Divide: Education, Death & Despair

press release: On April 14, Princeton University Professor Anne Case will address the recent decline in life expectancy in the U.S. and the social and economic factors that are making life harder for the working class.

Case’s 2022 Hilldale-Offner Lecture, “The Great Divide: Education, Death & Despair,” is free and open to the public. The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Overture Center’s Promenade Hall following the La Follette School’s Alumni and Friends reception. Case’s lecture will also be streamed to YouTube.

The author of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, Case will give an account of how the flaws in capitalism are harming America’s working class. She will discuss the dramatic rise in deaths from opioid overdose, alcoholism, and suicide in recent decades among people without a college degree and how the disparity between those who are prospering and those who are struggling continues to grow. The lecture will examine possible economic and policy solutions that could begin to close this gap and ensure that capitalism works for all.

Funding for Case’s visit is provided by the Hilldale Lecture Fund and the Offner Lecture Fund, and the event is co-sponsored by the Center for Demography of Health and Aging.

For questions about our spring events, please contact Brittney Mitchell, Outreach Events Coordinator, at bmitchell@lafollette.wisc.edu or (608) 265-2658.

Preceded by the La Follette School Alumni & Friends Reception from 5–7 p.m.

After rescheduling due to COVID, we look forward to hosting our annual networking and social event for La Follette School alumni, students, faculty, and staff! Please join us for hors d'oeuvres, a cash bar, and a La Follette School Student Association (LSSA) hosted table selling La Follette School merchandise. Register for the reception here.