Published
Nov 19, 2024Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1447370888Dimensions
216 x 140 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Nov 19, 2024Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1447370895Dimensions
216 x 140 mmImprint
Policy Press
The Kindness Fix
If a measure of our humanity is how we treat the most vulnerable, our report card is bleak. Our politics is divided, people in need are too often treated with cruelty, and the systems we built to support others are creaking. Welfare too often fails, sometimes with tragic consequences.
Yet, the help we give to others can be more effective, more accepted, and more just if we cultivate greater levels of compassion to put it at the heart of public life and potentially resolve these challenges. In this book, Jason Wood reviews the research and talks to experts from across the world to make the moving case for greater compassion in public life.
“As selfish materialism’s failure becomes increasingly clear, this book explores better directions to take, making a strong case for public policy based on values of compassion and social justice.” Peter Beresford OBE, University of East Anglia and Shaping Our Lives
“A compelling argument for compassion in public policy. Wood explains how everyone would benefit if we, and our elected leaders, had the courage to be kind.” Siobhan Benita, activist and kindness advocate
“Jason Wood makes the case for giving a damn - clearly, compassionately and cleverly. Just as 104 years ago Tawney wrote of those lacking sufficient compassion: '...they repeat, like parrots, the word "Productivity", because that is the word that rises first in their minds; … When they are touched by social compunction, they can think of nothing more original than the diminution of poverty, because poverty, being the opposite of the riches which they value most, seems to them the most terrible of human afflictions.' Wood talks of 'the absence of a compelling political vision' to do better, to be kind, even though, as Corbyn (the politician most closely associated with kindness worldwide) put it so simply, there is creativity, kindness and laughter in all of us." Danny Dorling, University of Oxford
Dr Jason Wood is a trained youth worker and academic and has spent over two decades teaching, researching, and campaigning on social justice issues. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and an Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.
1. Introduction
2. The Birth of the Welfare State
3. The Right Strikes Back
4. Welfare is Failing
5. What is Compassion?
6. Are We Compassionate?
7. The Benefits of Compassion
8. The Economic Case
9. Designing Compassionate Institutions
10. Leading with Compassion
11. Conclusion
