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.
Conversation around charities has become increasingly negative over recent decades. Stephen Cook and Tania Mason, authors of 'What Have Charities Ever Done for Us?', rebalance the debate by showing the breadth and depth of the contribution charities make.…Read more
Michelle Jayman, co-editor of 'Supporting New Digital Natives', calls for pupils’ mental health and wellbeing to be at the forefront of education recovery strategies.…Read more
Tim Wakeman profiles some recent victories by Acorn Oxford, a syndicalist organisation fighting for tenants’ rights in one of the most expensive places to live in the UK, and argues that the Acorn model could be used on more or less any issue to bring change.…Read more
Kate Hunt and Amanda Friesen outline the ways both sides of Ireland’s abortion policy debate framed masculinity, in order to encourage men to vote, questioning whether this threatens to undermine broader emancipatory goals.…Read more
In this podcast, Jess Miles speaks to Peter Beresford about his new book, 'Participatory Ideology', why we need to change the way we look at ideology and how more of us can be included in its creation.…Read more
Frances Galt, author of 'Women’s Activism Behind the Screens', traces the history of union activity on gender inequality in the film and TV industries and calls on us to learn valuable lessons from the successes of those in the past who fought for gender equality in the film and TV industries.…Read more
Mary C Murphy and John Hogan, editors of 'Policy Analysis in Ireland', consider how austerity since 2008 has deepened public service fault lines exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.…Read more
Paul Graham Raven reflects on the role of the Museum of Carbon Ruins, a speculative exhibition looking back on the present from a 2053 future in which we solved climate change. …Read more
Rob Kitchin, author of ‘Data Lives: How Data are Made and Shape our World’, warns us not to accept data at face value. He explains why he is telling data stories to remind us that the production of data is a creative endeavour.…Read more
Ian Cummins, author of 'Welfare and Punishment', presents an analysis of the punitive turn since 1979 that has resulted in a huge increase in the prison population and a shredding of the welfare safety net.…Read more