Philosophical Perspectives on Social Cohesion

What does 'social cohesion' really mean in Western liberal democracies and, more importantly, what should it ideally mean? If we identify the answer to that question, we next need to ask what sort of school structures and educational interventions are required to actualise this ideal. Mary Healy's rich and fascinating study not only sheds new conceptual light on the notion of civic relationships and its dense metaphorical layers, it also offers sensible practical advice to educators and policy-makers on how education for social cohesion can be made into a tangible goal for schooling. * Kristján Kristjánsson, Professor of Character Education and Virtue Ethics, University of Birmingham, UK *
Written with clarity and commitment, this is not only a timely book, it is also one of enduring significance. In increasingly fragmented and fragmenting times it reminds us of the foundational importance of attending imaginatively, deliberately and insistently to what binds us together as citizens and as human beings in a democratic society. Education has a key role to play here that is not well served by the populist fundamentalism of the market with its inherent capacity for division and exclusion. This book helps us return to fundamentals, to deeper human purposes and more profound views of human flourishing. We would do well to take its arguments and recommendations seriously and attend to their consequences with some urgency. Unless we do so, we will intensify an increasing immiseration of the present; perpetuate an arrogant, ungenerous view of common humanity; and invite a future that is irresponsibly and avoidably careless of what matters most in creating and sustaining democracy as a way of living and learning together. * Michael Fielding, Emeritus Professor of Education, Institute of Education, University of London, UK *