I first came across the work of (Prof.) Danny Dorling in the 1990's in connection with workshops on visualization in the social sciences and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The other week I read a feature on his (very timely) book in the Society section of The Guardian (O'Hara, 2010).You do wonder exactly where we are in policy terms given the interval since the Black Report. Dorling's book then sounds like a must-read, with the information posted below from the publishers.
In addition in Waterstones at the weekend I found The Spirit Level, available on their 3 for 2 offer. The links also posted below with an insightful 2009 review of The Spirit Level by Daniel Ben-Ami on sp!ked; plus a related LGC & HSJ event:
Implementing the Recommendations of the Marmot Review:
Reducing Health Inequalities
Reducing Health Inequalities
Injustice: Why social inequality persists
About This Book
Few would dispute that we live in an unequal and unjust world, but what causes this inequality to persist? Leading social commentator and academic Danny Dorling claims in this timely book that, as the five social evils identified by Beveridge are gradually being eradicated, they are being replaced by five new tenets of injustice, viz:
- elitism is efficient;
- exclusion is necessary;
- prejudice is natural;
- greed is good; and
- despair is inevitable.
"His attack on elitism and despair is impressive, his factual evidence undeniable." Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
Additional resources for Injustice: http://www.policypress.co.uk/injustice_appendix.asp
Dorling, D., Orford, S. and Harris, R. (1998) Visualization in the Social Sciences, A Report for the ESRC/JISC Advisory Group on Computer Graphics, AGOCG Technical Report No 41 (ISSN 1356-9066).
O'Hara, M. (2010). Why Britain's battle to bring down social inequality has failed, p.1 of the SocietyGuardian section of the Guardian on Wednesday 21 April 2010.
The Equality Trust, established by the authors.