Another world is possible - here are three books on how to create it
How do we create a better and fairer society? Fortunately, that question can't be answered too easily - we're counting on our raison d'être to last for a little while longer.
Here are three books that give it a try. The books share a vision of a more inclusive, sustainable and equitable society and explore different aspects of how this can be achieved.
Geoff Mulgan (2022). Another World Is Possible - How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination.
Sir. CEO. Professor. Geoff Mulgan is not short on titles - and for good reason. Mulgan has been a central figure in British politics, having served as an advisor to the UK government, director of the UK innovation fund Nesta, which we have also written about in INVI, and has written a number of books. His latest book, Another World Is Possible, is about what Mulgan identifies as the biggest crisis we face these days: our inability to imagine a better future.
In Another World Is Possible, Mulgan argues that we must use our imagination to drive progress and improve our society. We do this by merging bold ideas and practical experiments. But it's not easy.
While the world faces rapidly evolving societal crises like Covid and the slow progress of climate change, we also face a third, less visible emergency: a crisis of the imagination.
We can easily imagine a future of natural disasters, war and pandemics. But we struggle to imagine a world where people thrive and where we improve our democracy, welfare and education.
Another World Is Possible argues that while the threats are real, we can use creative imagination to achieve a better future. We do this by visualizing where we want to go and carefully devising a plan to get there.
Geoff Mulgan explains what we can learn from the past and what methods we can use to stimulate the imagination of our future society and take action.
He does this by drawing on social science, art, philosophy and history. He shows how we can recharge our collective imagination.
Mariana Mazzucato - The value of everything
Mariana Mazzucato is considered one of the world's most influential economists. A professor at University College London, she is known for her groundbreaking ideas on economics, innovation and the role of the state in market-driven innovation and growth. She has written several notable books, one of which is The value of everything.
In the book, she asks who actually creates value in our world? And how do we decide the value of what they make? At the heart of our financial and economic crisis lies the problem that in modern capitalism, value extraction is rewarded more than value creation. We don't reward the productive process that drives a healthy economy and sustainable society.
From companies run solely to maximize shareholder value to astronomically high drug prices justified through big pharma's "value pricing," we confuse depriving with creating and have forgotten what value really means, writes Mazzucato.
What is value? Why does it matter to us? These were once central elements of economic thinking - they are no longer discussed, Mazzucato points out. In this book, she argues that if we are to reform capitalism, we urgently need to rethink where wealth comes from.
The value of everything reignites a debate about what kind of world we really want to live in.
Systemic implementation - Why the problems in the social sector are not due to a lack of knowledge or reforms. We know what works, but we need to implement it
How do you translate existing knowledge about effective interventions into practice? This is a central problem in social work that Bo Jensen, Chief Consultant at the National Board of Social Services, addresses in the book Systemic Implementation.
"There is a broad understanding of what works," he says, "but there is a lack of effective implementation of this knowledge in the work with citizens.
Bo Jensen points out that good social interventions should be relationship-based, systematic, and holistic to address the complex needs that citizens face.
There is no deep disagreement about what works, Jensen states in the book. We just need to translate our knowledge.
Bo Jensen points out that what works is built around three central themes:
That the interventions are relationship-based because it changes behavior.
That the interventions are systematic because we can never know what the right thing is. We can only examine whether the social interventions we use in collaboration with citizens are actually implemented and work.
That the efforts are holistic, because citizens' problems rarely follow the boundaries between administrations.
We must accept that efficiency is not what each social actor does individually, but what they do together in collaboration with citizens.
You can read more about the book in Altinget.
The descriptions of the books are partly based on the publishers' own descriptions.