This has been demonstrated by growing inequalities, by failures and scandals in the social services, by the flat-lining of measured well-being (even during the boom years), by increases in a wide range of social problems, and by public disillusion over the effectiveness of policy programmes. In the post-crash world, the political culture needs to enable the expression of collective action for the benefits of interdependence, and to overcome the threats of ecological catastrophe and divisive ideology.
Only in this way can social policy be part of an inclusive global movement to restore faith in a politics of social justice.

Bill Jordan's up-to-date, passionate and engaging argument forges convincing links between a wide range of the troubling phenomena in the public life of our times.