At this time when many have lost hope amidst conflicts, terrorism, environmental destruction, economic inequality and the breakdown of democracy, this beautifully written book outlines how to rethink and reform our key institutions - markets, corporations, welfare policies, democratic processes and transnational governance - to create better societies based on core principles of human dignity, sustainability, and justice. This new vision is based on the findings of over 300 social scientists involved in the collaborative, interdisciplinary International Panel on Social Progress. Relying on state-of-the-art scholarship, these social scientists reviewed the desirability and possibility of all relevant forms of long-term social change, explored current challenges, and synthesized their knowledge on the principles, possibilities, and methods for improving the main institutions of modern societies. Their common finding is that a better society is indeed possible, its contours can be broadly described, and all we need is to gather forces toward realizing this vision.
Author Biography:
Marc Fleurbaey is an economist, professor at Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School and Center for Human Values) and member of Collège d'Etudes Mondiales (Paris FMSH). He is the co-author of Beyond GDP (with Didier Blanchet, 2013), A Theory of Fairness and Social Welfare (with François Maniquet, Cambridge, 2011), and the author of Fairness, Responsibility and Welfare (2008). He was a coordinating lead author for the IPCC 5th Report, and one of the initiators of the International Panel on Social Progress. He is also a member of the UN Committee on Development Policy, and of the Council for Global Problem-Solving. Olivier Bouin is an economist, director of the Réseau français des instituts d'études avancées (RFIEA) foundation that supports Institutes for Advanced Study worldwide and former director of the Collège d'Etudes Mondiales (Paris). He is the co-editor of Europe's Crises (with Manuel Castells et al, 2017) and the co-author of Economic and Political Democracy: Key Challenges Ahead (2018). He is a member of the Governing Board of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities, and one of the initiators of the International Panel on Social Progress. Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic is a sociologist, professor and dean of the School of Management and Innovation at Sciences Po. Her research focuses on the interface between business and society – the historical transformation of capitalism, the cross-national diffusion of ideas and practices, business ethics and corporate social responsibility, transnational governance and the performative role of ideologies. She has published broadly on those issues in academic journals and books. In particular, she is the author of Exporting the American Model (1998), winner of the 2000 Max Weber Award (American Sociological Association) and, together with Sigrid Quack, of Transnational Communities: Shaping Global Economic Governance (Cambridge, 2010). Ravi Kanbur is an economist, Professor at Cornell University. He has served on the senior staff of the World Bank including as Chief Economist for Africa. He is President of the Human Development and Capabilities Association, Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, Past-President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, past member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, and past-member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty. Helga Nowotny is Professor emerita of Social Studies of Science, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich and Former President of the European Research Council, ERC. Currently she is Chair of the ERA Council Forum Austria and Visiting Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her active engagement in scientific boards includes the Walling Falls Foundation (member); Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings (Vice-President); Complexity Science Hub Vienna (Chair); among others. Her latest book publications are The Cunning of Uncertainty (2016) and An Orderly Mess (2017). Elisa Reis is a political sociology professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and chair of the Interdisciplinary Network for Social Inequalities Studies (NIED). Her research focuses on elite perceptions of poverty and inequality, and on contemporary changes in the patterns of interaction between state, market and society. She has published widely in Brazilian and foreign periodicals. She is one of the authors of the book by Michele Lamont et al. Getting Respect: Responding to Stigma and Discrimination in the United States, Brazil and Israel (2016).
