Hanno Sauer quotes a hope from days gone by: "The end of economic scarcity will bring us a classless society." However, he says the opposite is the case: economic security has actually intensified the struggle for status. Why is this the case? In this lecture, Hanno Sauer explains what classes are, how they are created and why they are so difficult to abolish.

Hanno Sauer is Associate Professor of Ethics at Utrecht University. His book "Moral. The Invention of Good and Evil" was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2023 and the Tractatus Prize.