Ruth Levitas

{{short description|British sociologist}}

Ruth Levitas (born 15 May 1949 in London) is emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bristol.{{Cite web|url=https://dbms.services.bris.ac.uk/spais/people/person/ruth-a-levitas/|title=Sociology, Politics and International Studies Directory|last=Bristol|first=University of|website=www.bristol.ac.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-03-27}} She is well known internationally for her research on utopia and utopian studies.{{Cite book|url=http://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199585977.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199585977-e-016|title=Ideology and Utopia|last=Sargent|first=Lyman Tower|editor1-first=Michael|editor1-last=Freeden|editor2-first=Marc|editor2-last=Stears|date=2013-08-15|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199585977.013.0016}}

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.'{{Cite book|url=https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230231962|doi = 10.1057/9781137314253|title = Utopia as Method|year = 2013|last1 = Levitas|first1 = Ruth|isbn = 978-0-230-23197-9}} She has formulated a program of sociology which is fundamentally utopian-focused in conventional sociological discourse.Ruth Levitas, Where there is no vision, the people perish: A utopian ethic for a transformed future, CUSP essay series on the Ethics of Sustainable Prosperity | No 5, https://www.cusp.ac.uk/themes/m/m1-5/#1475182667098-0328ae0f-4bcbf2c7-159e13d8-96cc

In The Inclusive Society?: Social Exclusion and New Labour (2005), Levitas introduced the idea of social exclusion as part of the new political language.{{Cite book|url=https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403944276|doi = 10.1057/9780230511552|title = The Inclusive Society?|year = 2005|last1 = Levitas|first1 = Ruth|isbn = 978-1-4039-4427-6}} 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.{{Cite journal|last=Higate|first=Paul|date=2000|title=The Inclusive Society? Social Exclusion and New Labour (Book Review)|journal=Sociology|volume=34|pages=358–359|doi=10.1017/s0038038500300232}}