What Should We Do

"Active and responsible citizens form or join and sustain functional groups in which they ask the fundamental civic question: What should we do? In these groups, they characteristically face problems of collective action (such as free-riding), of discourse (e.g., propaganda and ideology), and of exclusion. Elinor Ostrom and the Bloomington School of political economy demonstrate that collective-action problems can be solved and suggest "design principles" that increase the odds of success. Jürgen Habermas argues that people can deliberate; experiments with deliberative democracy offer insights about what makes these conversations go well. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. offer models of nonviolent social movements that indicate how to address problems of exclusion. Good civic action requires insights from these three traditions of theory and practice. This book concludes with a synthesis of the three traditions that also addresses the challenge of scale: how to preserve intentional, ethical, collective action when millions or billions of people are involved. The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-6 and the current Black Lives Matter movement provide detailed examples. This book also proposes an alternative approach to political theory that focuses on individuals in voluntary groups rather than governments or whole societies"--

Helping Leaders to Develop Meaningful Church Membership Many new believers have questions about what it means to live as a Christian in the context of a local church, and pastors are looking for resources to pass along to their congregations to help them think biblically about the Christian life. Created in partnership with 9Marks, Church Questions is a series that seeks to provide ordinary Christians with sound and accessible biblical teaching by answering common questions Christians have about church life. Each booklet offers biblical answers and practical applications with the goal of nurturing healthy church practice and commitment. In this concise booklet, Alex Duke explains the importance of meaningful membership and discusses what church members should do about fellow members who don't regularly attend. Duke highlights the benefits of church membership—discipleship, accountability, and fellowship—and offers advice on how all Christians can encourage faithful church membership in their congregations.

Voters need to be informed to make political decisions, but what if their media diet not only prevents them from getting the information they need, but actively shapes inaccurate perceptions of the world? Drawing on examples and evidence from around the world, this book aims to make a timely intervention to the debate about the concept of fake news. Its underlying argument will have three objectives. First, to offer more precise definitions for a term that is often loosely used. Second, to offer a less technologically determinist view of fake news. New social media platforms, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, are clearly an important part of the story, but they exist in wider social, political and institutional settings. Third, to situate the idea of fake news (and our concern about it) in broader arguments about an ongoing crisis and loss of confidence in liberal democratic institutions. Only with this perspective, it will be argued, can we possibly address the question of what we should do about fake news.

The Irish border is a manifestation of the relationship between Britain and Ireland. When that relationship has been tense, we have seen the worst effects at the Irish border in the form of violence, controls and barriers. When the relationship has been good, the Irish border has become - to all intents and purposes - open, invisible and criss-crossed with connections. Throughout its short existence, the symbolism of the border has remained just as important as its practical impact. With the UK’s exit from the European Union, the challenge of managing the Irish border as a source and a symbol of British-Irish difference became an international concern. The solution found in the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement gives the Irish border a globally unique status. A century after partition, and as we enter the post-Brexit era, this book considers what we should know and do about this highly complex and ever-contested boundary line.

This book lays out what we know about the scale, history and impacts of tax abuse. From profit-shifting by multinational corporations to the exploitation of offshore tax havens. It sheds light on the people and organisations that enable tax abuse, and the stark social inequalities it creates. Crucially, it also explores what we can do about it. What are the practical realities of challenging the threats of tax injustice and of holding abusers accountable? What are the policies and institutional shifts we need to see and fight for? It is estimated that cross-border tax abuse accounts for around half a trillion dollars of lost revenue around the world each year. This is important. Alex Cobham shows us that tax is more than just business regulation or economic policy. It is a powerful tool for creating a fair and just society. It is our social superpower. Alex Cobham is an economist and chief executive of Tax Justice Network. The ‘What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...?′ series offers readers short, up-to-date overviews of key issues often misrepresented, simplified or misunderstood in modern society and the media. Each book is written by a leading social scientist with an established reputation in the relevant subject area. "Short, sharp and compelling." - Alex Preston, The Observer "If you want to learn a lot about what matters most, in as short a time as possible, this is the series for you." - Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford

"An excellent summary of why and how we work." People Management magazine What do we know about the current state of work and employment and what does the future of work look like? Professor Melanie Simms provides a far-reaching overview of paid employment in the UK, examining why we work, how we work, and what the future of work will be like with changing demographics and the introduction of modern technologies. From zero-hour contracts, the gig economy and universal basic income, to automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, Simms analyses the most pressing issues facing traditional employment. Before outlining four priority areas where the UK should look to strengthen regulation of in order to face the coming challenges more effectively, but also, so that they benefit workers, as well as employers and managers. ABOUT THE SERIES: The ‘What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...?′ series offers readers short, up-to-date overviews of key issues often misrepresented, simplified or misunderstood in modern society and the media. Each book is written by a leading social scientist with an established reputation in the relevant subject area. The Series Editor is Professor Chris Grey, Royal Holloway, University of London

Recent neuroscience, in replacing the old model of the brain as a single centralized source of control, has emphasized plasticity,the quality by which our brains develop and change throughout the course of our lives. Our brains exist as historical products, developing in interaction with themselves and with their surroundings.Hence there is a thin line between the organization of the nervous system and the political and social organization that both conditions and is conditioned by human experience. Looking carefully at contemporary neuroscience, it is hard not to notice that the new way of talking about the brain mirrors the management discourse of the neo-liberal capitalist world in which we now live, with its talk of decentralization, networks, and flexibility. Consciously or unconsciously, science cannot but echo the world in which it takes place.In the neo-liberal world, plasticitycan be equated with flexibility-a term that has become a buzzword in economics and management theory. The plastic brain would thus represent just another style of power, which, although less centralized, is still a means of control. In this book, Catherine Malabou develops a second, more radical meaning for plasticity. Not only does plasticity allow our brains to adapt to existing circumstances, it opens a margin of freedom to intervene, to change those very circumstances. Such an understanding opens up a newly transformative aspect of the neurosciences.In insisting on this proximity between the neurosciences and the social sciences, Malabou applies to the brain Marx's well-known phrase about history: people make their own brains, but they do not know it. This book is a summons to such knowledge.

“Like the YouTube channel, this is a touching yet informative guide for those seeking fatherly advice, or even a few good dad jokes.” — Library Journal