When Nothing Works: From Cost of Living to Foundational Liveability (Manchester Capitalism) - Softcover

Calafati, Luca; Froud, Julie; Haslam, Colin; Johal, Sukhdev; Williams, Karel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1526173719 ISBN 13: 9781526173713

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2023

Synopsis

It’s hard to escape the feeling that in Britain today nothing works. In the face of mounting inflation and widespread industrial action, this book offers an incisive analysis of the UK’s problems and a new approach to tackling them.

Economic growth and higher wages, the traditional responses of mainstream politicians, are simply not enough. This is because the so-called ‘cost of living crisis’ is only the face of a deeper crisis of foundational liveability. The UK is confronted not only with squeezed residual incomes but also failing public services and decaying social infrastructure. The only way out is to embrace a political practice of adaptive reuse that works around the constraints that frustrate mainstream policies.

Presenting a new model for the three pillars of liveability – disposable and residual income, essential services and social infrastructure – When nothing works challenges the assumptions of left and right in the UK political classes and offers a fresh approach to the economically visible and politically actionable.

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About this title

About the Authors

Julie Froud is Professor of Financial Innovation at Manchester Business School and a member of CRESC

Colin Haslam is Professor in Accounting/Finance at Queen Mary, University of London

Sukhdev Johal is Chair in Accounting & Strategy at Queen Mary University of London

From the Back Cover

'Read this and you won't look at a front page the same way again.'
Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian

'A brilliant book that makes hope realisable and outlines the passion that is needed.'
Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%

'The authors map out strategies to deliver redistribution and social justice by focusing on the most basic question: what can be done - by people, households and communities - to improve the quality of life around them.'
Paul Mason, author of Postcapitalism

'This clever book is a set of visionary proposals from a group of people who actually know what they are talking about! Everyone should be reading it, and most especially our MPs.'
Henrietta Moore, Institute of Global Prosperity, UCL

'Essential reading for the impending post-neoliberal reinvention of democracy and the state.'
Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute

'This rich and fascinating book points to practical ways we could create a liveable economy.'
Hilary Cottam, author of Radical Help

It's hard to escape the feeling that in Britain today nothing works. In the face of unaffordable essentials, public service failure, inflation and industrial unrest, this book offers an incisive analysis of the UK's problems and a new approach to tackling them.

Behind the acute 'cost of living crisis' is a chronic ongoing foundational crisis. All the pillars of household liveability are failing as residual income is squeezed, services collapse and social infrastructure decays. Politicians and commentators recommend faster growth and higher wages, but mainstream policies cannot deliver these outcomes, which in any case would not solve our problems.

The only political way out is through a practice of 'adaptive reuse' starting from where we are at, aiming directly to improve household liveability and working around the constraints that frustrate mainstream policies. When nothing works breaks with the assumptions of left and right in the UK political classes and changes the field of what is economically visible and politically actionable.

Edition details

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1526173719
• ISBN 13: 9781526173713
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312