Professor, author, economist, lawyer, TikTok sensation—Robert Reich is a true renaissance man. From his time as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton to his current position as the Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Reich has had a long, distinguished career in politics and academia. During his 17-year tenure at the Goldman School, Reich has taught well over 10,000 students and reached thousands more through his Substack newsletter and freely available Wealth and Poverty class on YouTube. Known widely as a prominent intellectual and effective translator of complex ideas, Reich has also published 18 best-selling books, co-created the films Saving Capitalism and Inequality for All, appears frequently as a public commentator, and actively uses social media to engage and educate a global audience on issues of public policy.

This spring, Reich is officially retiring from his full-time teaching position at UC Berkeley and the Goldman School. Join Reich and Arlie Hochschild, Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, for a wide-ranging conversation on his time as an instructor, his thoughts on the current state of democracy at home and abroad, and his hopes for the future.

Arlie Hochschild is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, who most recently has focused her research on the rise of the American political right. Her latest book is Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, a National Book Award Finalist and New York Times Best Seller. Her other books include The Second Shift, The Time Bind, The Managed Heart and So How’s the Family. Her work, which has often centered on supporting underrepresented voices in America and particularly American politics, has been translated into 17 languages and resulted in her being sought out to speak before Democratic Members of Congress on multiple occasions.

This event is co-presented by Cal Performances and the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley