RICHARD REEVES
Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
Author of Dream Hoarders & Of Boys and Men
Richard brings a fresh perspective to the urgent issues of gender, masculinity & class in today's society. With deep insights & thought-provoking analysis, Reeves inspires audiences to challenge their assumptions & engage in meaningful dialogue about creating a more equitable & inclusive world.
Richard V. Reeves is a senior fellow in Economic Studies, where he holds the John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair and leads the Boys and Men Project. His research focuses on boys and men, inequality, and social mobility.
Richard’s publications for Brookings include Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It (2022) and 2017's Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do about It. He is a contributor to The Atlantic, National Affairs, Democracy Journal, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Richard is also the author of John Stuart Mill – Victorian Firebrand, an intellectual biography of the British liberal philosopher and politician.
Exclusively represented by BrightSight Speakers bureau, Richard sits on the Board of Jobs for the Future, and is an adviser to the American Family Survey, and to the Equity Center at the University of Virginia. He has previously served as a consultant to the Opportunity Insights team led by Prof Raj Chetty at Harvard University (2018), and as a member of the Government of Canada's Ministerial Advisory Committee on Poverty (2017-2018).
Richard’s previous roles include: director of Demos, the London-based political think-tank; director of futures at the Work Foundation; principal policy advisor to the Minister for Welfare Reform; social affairs editor of the The Observer; research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research; economics correspondent for The Guardian; and a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. He is also a former European Business Speaker of the Year.
Richard has a B.A. from Oxford University and a Ph.D. from Warwick University.
Speech topics
Solving the Crisis of our Boys and Men
What is happening with so many of our boys and men? Economists lament inexplicable drops in male labor force participation. Public health officials point to disproportionately male "deaths of despair" from suicide or overdose. Parents see their sons struggling and worry what it means for their future. Ihn a compelling presentation, Richard provides a groundbreaking, personal and engaging diagnosis of the contemporary male malaise that is pro-equality as well as pro-male. As he says: "We can hold two thoughts in our head at once. We can be passionate about women's rights and compassionate toward vulnerable boys and men." Drawing on years of deep research as well as his personal experience as a father of three sons, Reeves offers a compelling diagnosis of the problems of boys and men-and a bold set of solutions.
Look Me in the Eye: Building a Culture of Respect
Healthy communities run on respect. Respect is the glue holding together organizations, neighborhoods, and whole societies. That is the bold claim of Richard Reeves. Equality of respect is the foundation for all other kinds of equality. How do we know when we have it? "In a society of equal respect," Reeves says, "we can look each other squarely in the eye." In this wide-ranging, passionate talk, Reeves describes how respect gaps open up, and how to close them.
Save the Middle Class, Save the World
The fate of the middle class is the fate of us all, argues Reeves. Drawing on the latest research on economic and social trends, he shows how the middle class is hurting, how that hurt turns to anger and disillusionment, which threatens progress. As Director of the new Future of the Middle Class Initiative at the Brookings Institution, Reeves brings a fresh, birds eye view of the state of and prospects for the middle class.
Books
Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It
Drawing on years of deep research as well as his personal experience as a father of three sons, Reeves offers a compelling diagnosis of the problems of boys and men- as well as a bold set of solutions.
Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It
This fascinating book shows how American society has become the very class-defined society that earlier Americans rebelled against—and what can be done to restore a more equitable society.
All Minus One: John Stuart Mill’s Ideas on Free Speech Illustrated
Reeves (a biographer of Mill) and Haidt (a social psychologist) summarize Mill's three timeless arguments for free speech and the value of viewpoint diversity
John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand
The definitive life of John Stuart Mill, one of the heroic giants of Victorian England.
More Video
Podcast
The motto of Dialogues with Richard Reeves is "thinking together in relationship". This podcast features in-depth, lively conversations with leading thinkers on the big questions facing modern societies.
