Fair Play: A Daniel Dorling Reader on Social Justice

413 Pages·2012·12.219 MB·English

by  Daniel Dorling

FAir PlAY
A Daniel Dorling reader
on social justice

DAniel Dorling
FAIR PLAY

A Daniel Dorling reader
on social justice
First published in Great Britain in 2012 by
The Policy Press
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To my brothers,
Anthony and Tristan Dorling

Contents
Sources of extracts vii
Foreword by Mary O’Hara xi
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction 1
Section I: Inequality and poverty 11
1 Prime suspect: murder in Britain 13
2 The dream that turned pear-shaped 31
3 The soul searching within New Labour 41
4 Unequal Britain 49
5 Axing the child poverty measure is wrong 57
Section II: Injustice and ideology 61
6 Brutal budget to entrench inequality 63
7 New Labour and Inequality: Thatcherism Continued? 65
8 All in the mind? Why social inequalities persist 83
9 Glass conflict: David Cameron’s claim to understand poverty 93
10 Clearing the poor away 97
Section III: Race and identity 101
11 Ghettos in the sky 103
12 Worlds apart: how inequality breeds fear and prejudice in Britain 111
13 How much evidence do you need? Ethnicity, harm and crime 115
14 UK medical school admissions by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sex 121
15 Race and the repercussions of recession 125
Section IV: Education and hierarchy 131
16 What’s it to do with the price of fish? 133
17 Little progress towards a fairer education system 139
18 One of Labour’s great successes 147
19 Do three points make a trend? 149
20 Educational mobility in England and Germany 155
21 Cash and the not so classless society 159
22 Britain must close the great pay divide 165
23 Raising equality in access to higher education 170
Section V: Elitism and geneticism 187
24 The Darwins and the Cecils are only empty vessels 189
25 The Fabian essay: the myth of inherited inequality 193
26 The return to elitism in education 199
27 The super-rich are still soaring away 209
v
FAIR PLAY
Section VI: Mobility and employment 215
28 The trouble with moving upmarket 217
29 Britain – split and divided by inequality 221
30 London and the English desert: the grain of truth in a stereotype 225
31 Are the times changing back? 237
32 Unemployment and health 243
Section VII: Bricks and mortar 247
33 Mortality amongst street sleeping youth in the UK 249
34 Daylight robbery: there’s no shortage of housing 251
35 The influence of selective migration patterns 255
36 The geography of poverty, inequality and wealth in the UK and abroad 263
37 All connected? Geographies of race, death, wealth, votes and births 291
Section VIII: Wellbeing and misery 297
38 Against the organization of misery? The Marmot Review of 299
Health Inequalities
39 Inequality kills 307
40 The geography of social inequality and health 311
41 The cartographer’s mad project 327
42 The fading of the dream: widening inequalities in life expectancy 333
in America
43 The importance of circumstance, section from: anecdote is the singular 339
of data
Section IX: Advocacy and action 345
44 Mean machine: how structural inequality makes social inequality 347
seem natural
45 Policing the borders of crime: who decides research? 351
46 Learning the hard way 357
47 When the social divide deepens 363
48 Ending the scandal of complacency 365
49 Our grandchildren will wonder why we were addicted to social inequality 369
50 Mind the gap: New Labour’s legacy on child poverty 373
51 Remapping the world’s population: visualizing data using cartograms 379
52 If I were king 385
Bibliography 387
Index 389

vi
Sources of extracts
The following research centres, journals, publishers, newspapers, trade unions, trusts and
websites all generously gave permission for previously published work to be included
here. Many thanks to all.
Section I: Inequality and poverty
1 Prime suspect: murder in Britain
From: Criminal obsessions: why harm matters more than crime (second edition),
(2008) pp 24–40, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
2 The dream that turned pear-shaped
From: ‘Inequalities in Britain 1997–2006’ (2006) Local Economy, vol 21 no 4,
pp 353–61, Sage.
3 The soul searching within New Labour
From: ‘The soul searching within New Labour’, (2007) Local Economy, vol 22,
no 4, pp 317–24, Sage.
4 Unequal Britain
From: ‘Unequal Britain’ (2007) Socialist Worker, Issue 2061, 28th July 2007.
5 Axing the child poverty measure is wrong
From: ‘Axing the child poverty measure is wrong’, (2010) The Guardian/Observer.
Section II: Injustice and ideology
6 Brutal budget to entrench inequality
From: ‘Brutal budget to entrench inequality’, (2010) Socialist Review, 349,
July/August, p 5.
7 New Labour and inequality: Thatcherism continued?
From: ‘New Labour and inequality: Thatcherism continued? (2010) Local
Economy, vol 25, nos 5/6, pp 397–413. Sage.
8 All in the mind? Why social inequalities persist
From: ‘All in the mind? Why social inequalities persist’, (2010) Public Policy
Research, vol 16, no 4, pp 226-231, Wiley.
9 Glass conflict: David Cameron’s claim to understand poverty
From: ‘Glass conflict: David Cameron’s claim to understand poverty and his wish
to ‘eradicate dependency’ seem wide of the mark’, (2010) Roof Magazine, vol 35,
no 1, p 10, Shelter.
10 Clearing the poor away
From: ‘Clearing the poor away’, (2010) Socialist Review, November.
Section III: Race and identity
11 Ghettos in the sky
From: ‘Why Trevor is wrong about race ghettos’, (2005) The Guardian/Observer.
vii
FAIR PLAY
12 Worlds apart: how inequality breeds fear and prejudice in Britain
From: ‘Worlds apart: how inequality breeds fear and prejudice in Britain through
the eyes of two very different teenage girls’, (2008) The Guardian/Observer.
13 How much evidence do you need? Ethnicity, harm and crime
From: CCJS online commentary (2008).
14 UK medical school admissions by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sex
From: ‘The standardised admission ratio for measuring widening participation
in medical schools: analysis of UK medical school admissions by ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, and sex’, (2004) with K. Seyan and T. Greenhalgh, BMJ,
328, pp 1545–46.
15 Race and the repercussions of recession
From: ‘Race and the repercussions of recession’, (2009) Runnymede Trust Bulletin,
No 360, pp1–3.
Section IV: Education and hierarchy
16 What’s it to do with the price of fish?
From: ‘What’s it to do with the price of fish?’, (2008) with A. Barford, Wideworld
(GCSE Geography Review) vol 19, no 3, pp 6–8, Phillip Alan.
17 Little progress towards a fairer education system
From: Unpublished commentary on universities (2005).
18 One of Labour’s great successes
From: ‘One of Labour’s great successes’, (2010) The Guardian/Observer.
19 Do three points make a trend?
From: Compass website (2008), 4 November.
20 Educational mobility in England and Germany
From: ‘Angles, Saxons, inequality, and educational mobility in England and
Germany (2010) Social Europe.
21 Cash and the not so classless society
From: ‘Cash and the not so classless society’, (2008) Fabian Review, vol 120, no 2.
22 Britain must close the great pay divide
From: ‘Britain must close the great pay divide’, (2010) The Observer, 28
November.
23 Raising equality in access to higher education
From: Original article (2010) submitted to National Institute Economic Review
Section V: Elitism and geneticism
24 The Darwins and the Cecils are only empty vessels
From: ‘The Darwins and the Cecils are only empty vessels’, (2010) Environment
and Planning A, 42, pp 1023–25, Pion.
25 The Fabian essay: the myth of inherited inequality
From: ‘The Fabian essay: the myth of inherited inequality’, (2010) Fabian Review
vol 122, no 1, pp 19–21.
26 The return to elitism in education
From: ‘The return to elitism in education’, (2010) Soundings, Issue 44, March

Lawrence and Wisheart.
27 The super-rich are still soaring away
From: ‘The super-rich are still soaring away’, New Statesman, April 2010.
viii
Sources of extracts
Section VI: Mobility and employment
28 The trouble with moving upmarket
From: ‘The trouble with moving upmarket’, (2007) The Guardian/Observer, 17
July.
29 Britain – split and divided by inequality
From: ‘Britain – split and divided by inequality’, (2007) Rapport: Journal of the
Community and Youth Worker’s Union (now, The Community, Youth Workers and
Not for Profit sector of Unite the Union) October Issue 4–5, CYWU National
30 London and the English desert: the grain of truth in a stereotype
From: ‘London and the English desert: ‘The grain of truth in a stereotype’, (2008)
Geocarrefour, vol 83, no 2.
31 Are the times changing back?
From: ‘Are the times changing back? There are painful similarities between life
lived in London now and the unjust inequalities of Victorian times’, (2010) New
London Review, July, no 2, pp 16–17.
32 Unemployment and health
From: ‘Unemployment and health: health benefits vary according to the method
of reducing unemployment’, (2009) BMJ, 338, b829.
Section VII: Bricks and mortar
33 Mortality amongst street sleeping youth in the UK
From: ‘Mortality amongst street sleeping youth in the UK’, (1998) with M. Shaw,
The Lancet, August, no 29, p 743, Elsevier.
34 Daylight robbery: there’s no shortage of housing
From: ‘Daylight robbery: there’s no shortage of housing, the stock has just been
shared out abysmally – and that’s the fault of the market’, Roof Magazine, vol 34,
no 3, p 11, Shelter (2009).
35 The influence of selective migration patterns
From: ‘The influence of selective migration patterns among smokers and
nonsmokers on geographical inequalities in health’, (2010) with J.R. Pearce,
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol 100, issue 2, April, pps
393–409, Routledge.
36 The geography of poverty, inequality and wealth in the UK and abroad
From: ‘The geography of poverty, inequality and wealth in the UK and abroad:
because enough is never enough’, (2010) with J. Pritchard, Journal of Applied
Spatial Analysis and Policy, vol 3, nos 2–3, pp 81–106, Springer.
37 All connected? Geographies of race, death, wealth, votes and births
From: ‘All connected? Geographies of race, death, wealth, votes and births’,
(2010) Geographical Journal, vol 176, issue 3, pps 186–98, September, Wiley.
Section VIII: Wellbeing and misery
38 Against the organization of misery? The Marmot Review of health inequalities
From: ‘Against the organization of misery? The Marmot Review of Health
Inequalities’, (2010) with K. Pickett, Social Science and Medicine, vol 71, issue 7,

October, pp 1231–33, Elsevier.
ix