Global social challenges
There are multiple interlocking crises currently gripping the planet. Significant threats and dangers lie ahead of us, but so do opportunities, as new ways of being, thinking, and doing emerge.
This stream of Transforming Society is a space for exploring the complexities of the global social challenges across disciplines and fields. It seeks to build and share the knowledge needed to shape a fairer world, across and for the global south and north, hoping to foster dialogue between academics, practitioners, policy makers and the wider public.
Pushkala Prasad, author of 'Capitalism’s Dark Complexion', argues that capitalism has always been deeply racialised, exploiting Black and Brown bodies, from chattel slavery to modern e-waste labour, while disproportionately enriching White populations.…Read more
Justine Grønbæk Pors, author of 'Inherited Time', argues that democracy must be lived and practised in schools, and that contemporary education policy’s focus on performance has erased earlier democratic traditions whose “ghosts” still offer vital lessons for renewing democracy today.…Read more
In this Transforming Society podcast episode, Richard Kemp speaks with Lord Peter Hain about why liberation and independence movements are so often betrayed when their leaders get into power.…Read more
George Miller speaks to Patricia Shamai about why nuclear weapons have drifted from public consciousness since the 1990s.…Read more
International Migrants Day underscores that migrants are essential to the UK’s economy and public services, yet are scapegoated for hardships actually caused by financialisation, corporate exploitation and elite-driven populism.…Read more
In this Transforming Business podcast, Martin Parker speaks with Kathleen Riach about her groundbreaking 10-year longitudinal study that offers fresh theoretical and empirical insights into how ageing is experienced in the workplace.…Read more
True crime is a huge cultural industry, yet behind its stories lies real victims and uncomfortable ethical implications. In this podcast, Richard Kemp speaks with Ian Cummins and Martin King about the impact true crime has on society.…Read more
In this episode of the podcast, N.J. Enfield joins George Miller to discuss 'What Is Truth For?' — a book that sees truth not as a battlefield but as a shared practice of collaboration, error correction and trust.…Read more
After 30 years of UN climate summits, global warming has only worsened — revealing the urgent need for radical reform of the COP process and a complete transformation of our societal values.…Read more
University Press Week celebrates the collaborative power of university presses, exemplified by Bristol University Press’s Global Social Challenges Development Fund—to make research more inclusive, accessible and globally representative in tackling the world’s most urgent social issues.…Read more