Manifestos, Policies and Practices: An equalities agenda

by David Scott (Editor)

Presenting the case for radical policy reform through an analysis of both the 2017 Labour Party Manifesto and contemporary policies of other UK political parties, Manifestos, Policies and Practices argues that a left-wing, counter-reactionary political agenda must be founded on a robust notion of equality and be committed to fostering citizens' equality of goods, equality of opportunities and equality of basic capabilities.

The book comprises a series of essays on key policy areas, highlighting the values in each that underpin an equalities agenda. This agenda sets itself against five individualistic versions of human beings: self-interest, bureaucratic imperatives, libertarian impulses, non-reflection and normativity. There are alternatives to these five forms of individualism and the book proposes some of them in the form of radical policy commitments for the economy, education, environment, health, taxation, housing, identity, welfare, ecology and gender.

306 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2019

About the author

David Scott is a Professor of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment at the Institute of Education, University of London. He has previously worked at the universities of Warwick, Southampton and Lincoln.

His most recent books are The European School System (coauthored with S. Leaton-Gray and P. Mehisto; Macmillan Palgrave, 2017); Equalities and Inequalities in the English Education System (coauthored with B. Scott; University College London Institute of Education Press, 2017); The Mexican Education System (coauthored with C. Posner, C. Martin, and E. Guzman; University College London Press, 2017); Education Systems and Learners: Knowledge and Knowers (Macmillan Palgrave, 2016); Policy Transfer and Educational Change (coauthored with C. Husbands, R. Slee, R. Wilkins, and M. Terano; SAGE, 2015); Roy Bhaskar: A Theory of Education (Springer International, 2015); New Perspectives on Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment (Springer International, 2015); and SAGE Handbook on Learning (coauthored with E. Hargreaves; SAGE, 2015).