Philosophical Perspectives on Social Cohesion: New Directions for Educational Policy

Written with clarity and commitment, this is not only a timely book, it is also one of enduring significance. In increasingly fragmented and fragmenting times it reminds us of the foundational importance of attending imaginatively, deliberately and insistently to what binds us together as citizens and as human beings in a democratic society. Education has a key role to play here that is not well served by the populist fundamentalism of the market with its inherent capacity for division and exclusion. This book helps us return to fundamentals, to deeper human purposes and more profound views of human flourishing. We would do well to take its arguments and recommendations seriously and attend to their consequences with some urgency. Unless we do so, we will intensify an increasing immiseration of the present; perpetuate an arrogant, ungenerous view of common humanity; and invite a future that is irresponsibly and avoidably careless of what matters most in creating and sustaining democracy as a way of living and learning together. ― Michael Fielding, Emeritus Professor of Education, Institute of Education, University of London, UK