Social Mobility: How to Break the Link Between Background and Opportunity (Joe Seddon)

Joe Seddon, founder of Zero Gravity, thinks “geography is destiny in the UK” which is why he has built a tech platform to do something about it.

In this week’s episode, Amol and Joe dig into the barriers facing young people across the country, from stalled social mobility to uneven access to opportunity.

Growing up in a single‑parent household in Morley, West Yorkshire, he went on to study at the University of Oxford, but he thinks those opportunities are still too rare for people from a similar background. That’s why his platform connects people from low-opportunity areas with top universities and employers.

But Joe argues that there needs to be “radical transparency” in how university degrees are advertised so people know the value of the course they’re applying to.

And in a blunt message to ambitious people from disadvantaged backgrounds, he admits that the economic reality means that “you should think seriously about leaving your hometown.”

TIMECODES

(00:03:46) Social mobility in the UK

(00:11:24) The impact of AI on social mobility

(00:16:49) Can government policy improve social mobility?

(00:18:14) The broken social contract for Gen Z

(00:21:00) Student loan repayments

(00:27:24) Are too many people going to university?

(00:30:49) Joe’s RADICAL ideas

(00:36:19) Joe’s journey from West Yorkshire to Oxford University

(00:40:37) Accent bias

(00:46:55) Why “geography is destiny” in the UK

(00:54:36) What is Zero Gravity?

(01:36:44) Amol’s reflections

GET IN TOUCH

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.

Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Anna Budd. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by James Piper. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.