The recent riots in Britain, which emerged following the Southport stabbings, demonstrate how hate is bubbling just under the surface of our society, ready to erupt at any moment. Behind the violence and destruction are statistics. Between 2012 and 2023, hate crimes in England and Wales rose by 252%, according to research undertaken by the Home Office. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Professor Neil Chakraborti and Professor Matthew Williams join host Will Hutton to discuss the impact of hate crimes on the victims, their communities and wider British society. And what can be done to lower the incidences of hate crime. 

Professor Chakraborti has been studying the impact of hate crimes on victims for the past two decades and is Director of the Centre for Hate Studies and the Director of the Institute for Policy at the University of Leicester.  

Professor Matthew Williams is a Professor of Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. He leads the HateLab there, a global hub for data and insight into hate speech and crime.  He's the author of the popular science book, The Science of Hate, which was published by Faber and Faber in 2021.


Season 6 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences continues to tackle the big questions through a social science lens. Throughout this series, you'll be hearing some of the best ideas to shape the way we live.

Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on X https://twitter.com/AcadSocSciences

This is the final episode of Season 6, see you in the Autumn! 

Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://AcSS.org.uk