Building Better Societies

"This fantastic collection provides a trenchant critique of contemporary society and outlines solutions to challenge the power games of those sowing the seeds of social injustice. A must read for anyone with a heart." Mark Doidge, University of Brighton

"offers a different way of thinking and a simple message—that the notion of the social needs to be reclaimed and restored if we are to have a better society. This book is a well-timed addition to the social justice discourse and should be read by everyone." LSE Review of Books

"Do we need another book on social justice? The answer seems to be yes. The text largely makes a compelling case for the betterment of society and charts a credible way forward for how we might best achieve this....This book is a well-timed addition to the social justice discourse and should be read by everyone." London School fo Economics Review of Books

“This is a profoundly important book. How might public sociology be conducted in bleak times and in the face of fragmented publics? The authors begin the necessary task of building a sociology of new possibilities. Recent events make this necessary reading” John Holmwood, University of Nottingham

"We’ve been told we don’t need experts but we need them more than ever. This rich collection of thought-provoking pieces about the importance of our social world can be a catalyst for debate and dialogue among all those committed to building a better world." Kate E Pickett, University of York

"Enriches and enlivens, bringing detail to generalities and radical, exciting alternatives to exhausted narratives." Zoe Williams, the Guardian

Rowland Atkinson is Chair in Inclusive Societies, in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. His research crosses urban studies, sociology, geography and criminology and looks at different forms of exclusion and inequality. Among other interests his work has focused on questions of wealth and poverty in societies and the often invisible harms generated by social inequality in urban settings. Rowland lead the first study of gated communities in the UK as well as the first key study of the rich in London and continues to work to connect the lives of the affluent to social problems, he is the author of (with Sarah Blandy) Domestic Fortress.

Dr Lisa Mckenzie is a research fellow at the London School of Economics & Political Science, working as part of the Great British Class Survey Team. Her previous research focused upon the poor working class and her current research interests relate to the precarious and vulnerable nature of particular groups in our society through insecure housing, work, social benefits, health care, and education. She is author of the bestselling Getting by: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain (Policy Press, 2015).

Professor Simon Winlow, is at the Centre for Realist Criminology, Teesside University. He has research expertise in both sociology and criminology and has published widely on violence, criminal markets and cultures, and social, political and economic change.

Who would not be For Society? ~ Rowland Atkinson, Lisa McKenzie and Simon Winlow

Part 1: Problems

The social question and the urgency of care ~ Iain Wilkinson

Better politics - narratives of indignation and the possibility of a prosocial politics ~ Keith Jacobs

Valuing and strengthening community ~ Lisa McKenzie

Part 2: Ideas

Confronting the roots of violent behaviour ~ Anthony Ellis

In defence of the public city ~ Martin Coward

Artfully thinking the prosocial ~ Deborah Joy-Warr, Gretel Taylor and Richard Williams

Re-visioning exclusion in local communities ~ Kate Pahl and Paul Ward

Putting ‘the social’ back into social policy ~ Steve Corbett and Alan Walker

Part 3: Futures

Progress through protest ~ Sam Burgum

Cities, crises and the future ~ Sophie Body-Gendrot

Policy steps towards a better social future ~ Michael Orton

The (in)visibility of riches, urban life and exclusion ~ Rowland Atkinson

The uses of catastrophism ~ Simon Winlow

Conclusion: Thinking the Prosocial ~ Rowland Atkinson, Simon Winlow and Lisa Mckenzie