Synopses & Reviews
In the five years since the first edition of
Injustice there have been devastating increases in poverty, hunger, and destitution in the United Kingdom. Globally, the richest 1% have never held a greater share of world wealth, while the share of most of the other 99% has fallen in the last five years, with more and more people in debt, especially the young. Economic inequalities will persist and continue to grow for as long as we tolerate the injustices which underpin them.
This fully rewritten and updated edition revisits Dorling’s claim that Beveridge’s five social evils are being replaced by five new tenets of injustice: elitism is efficient; exclusion is necessary; prejudice is natural; greed is good; and despair is inevitable. By showing these beliefs are unfounded, Dorling offers hope of a more equal society.
We are living in the most remarkable and dangerous times. With every year that passes it is more evident that Injustice is essential reading for anyone who is concerned with social justice and wants to do something about it.
Review
“This invaluable book is more than an essential resource in the defense of our ebbing welfare state. It is a thoughtful and carefully argued source of stimulation towards its reinvention.”
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“The original edition of Injustice stands out as a masterpiece, not only in the production of razor-sharp arguments, but also in its collation of extensive supporting evidence. This updated edition is perhaps even more important today.”
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“Superb and invaluable ammunition in the fight against inequality and injustice.”
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“Dorling’s analysis is quietly, devastatingly persuasive. Once you’ve read him you have to reassess how you live. That’s an amazing gift.”
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“Think twice before reading this book—you may well become an activist against social injustice, inequality, and the exploitation of labour. Dorling gives us words that are weapons.”
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“For decades researchers have shown the damage inequality does to all society and Dorling’s wonderful book extends this. With brilliance and passion Dorling analyzes the mindset of entitlement among those who hold ever tighter to money, power, and life’s best rewards, generation to generation.”
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“In this impassioned, empirical, and hopeful second edition, powerfully updated with new data, Dorling skewers the ideologies that justify injustice. He reminds us that to create a better world we have to collectively imagine it is possible.”
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“Rich insights into how prejudice, presumption, and a paucity of regard for our fellow human beings reinforce poverty as well as privilege.”
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“Powerful sentences and carefully-curated evidence frame critically-important thoughts on how we got here and how things could be different.”
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“Dorling’s unsettling account makes it clear that inequity and inequality are less about ‘ideology’ and more about the self-serving interests of the powerful. His book is a passionate call for change.”
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“In this new edition of his seminal Injustice, Dorling’s unique combination of moral passion and analytical rigor made my heart sing.”
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“An eloquent indictment of the status quo, but so much more. By systematically dismantling the ideological props of the current economic and social order, Dorling forces us to think how things could be done differently.”
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“Dorling has given us a guide through the dark, twisted, and changing forest of injustice. A must-read for anyone fighting for justice.”
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“Original and angry.”
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“A brilliant analysis. . . A 'must read' for anyone who wants to understand inequality and how we might tackle it.”
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“Salutary, shocking reading.”
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“Forensic and hard hitting.”
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“An excellent, sharp, and at times poignant analysis of the political, social, and economic situation that capitalism as a social system is in today.”
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“A fascinating read that sticks in the memory.”
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“[Dorling provides] valuable ammunition for attacking the ideas of our rulers and his book deserves a wide readership.”
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“An impassioned and informed plea for greater social justice.”
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“Engaged and angry.”
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“Essential reading for everyone concerned with social justice.”
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“One of the foremost thinkers on the issue of social inequality today.”
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“A powerful and entertaining read, which sets forth a bold, innovative thesis about contemporary inequality.”
Review
“A century ago, amid the struggle for social insurance to protect workers injured on the job, men of wealth and power argued that workers insured against disability would cut off their own limbs to reap the rewards disability protection would provide. Today’s rich and their hired hands seldom get that crude. They spin much more sophisticated myths. In Injustice, Dorling examines—and exposes—them all. Sometimes with figures and charts. Sometimes with history. Sometimes with unrelenting logic.”
Review
“Intelligent and astute, this well-woven book—reissued this year in a fully revised edition—offers a powerful critique of the ideologies of greed that stitch up society. Without a hint of surrender to the status quo, Dorling radiates humanity, passion and concern across every page. His words are weapons, inspiring me to take action and reminding us of the power of the collective to defeat inequality and exploitation.”
Synopsis
In the five years since the first edition of Injustice there have been devastating increases in poverty and inequality in the UK. This fully revised edition updates Dorling's examination of the five tenets of injustice: elitism is efficient; exclusion is necessary; prejudice is natural; greed is good and despair is inevitable. Dorling shows these beliefs are unfounded and, so, offers hope of a more equal society.
Synopsis
We are living in the most remarkable and dangerous times. Globally, the richest 1% have never held a greater share of world wealth, while the share of most of the other 99% has collapsed in the last five years. In this fully rewritten and updated edition of Injustice, Dorling offers hope of a more equal society.
About the Author
Danny Dorling is the Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford. He is the author of over twenty-five books.
Table of Contents
Letter from America: commentary by Sam Pizzigati
Foreword by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
1. Introduction
The beliefs that uphold injustice
The five faces of social inequality
A pocket full of posies
2. Inequality: the antecedent and outcome and of injustice
Inevitability of change: what we do now we could all have enough?
Injustice rising out of the ashes of social evils
So where do we go from here
3. 'Elitism is efficient': new educational divisions
The ‘new delinquents: those most harmed by elitism, a seventh of all children
IQism: the underlying rationale for the growth of elitism
Apartheid schooling: from garaging to hot-housing
Putting on a pedestal: superhuman myths
The 1950s: from ignorance to arrogance
4. 'Exclusion is necessary': excluding people from society
Indebted: those most harmed by exclusion, a sixth of all people
Geneticism: the theories that exacerbate social exclusion
Segregation: of community from community
Escapism: of the rich behind walls
The 1960s: the turning point from inclusion to exclusion
5. 'Prejudice is natural': a wider racism
Indenture: labour for miserable reward, a fifth of all adults
Darwinism: thinking that different incentives are needed
Polarisation: of the economic performance of regions
Inheritance: the mechanism of prejudice
The 1970s: the new racism
6. 'Greed is good': consumption and waste
Not part of the programme: just getting by, a quarter of all households
Economics: the discipline with so much to answer for
Gulfs: between our lives and our worlds
Celebrity: celebrated as a model of success
The 1980s: changing the rules of trade
7. ‘Despair is inevitable: health and wellbeing
Anxiety: made ill through the way we live, a third of all families
Competition: proposing insecurity as beneficial
Culture: the international gaps in societal wellbeing
Bird-brained thinking: putting profit above caring
The 1990s: birth of mass medicating
8. Conspiracy, consensus, conclusion.
No great conspiracy
Using the vote
Coming to the end
Injustice deepens
What to do