Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

‘An urgent manifesto for collective healing.’ David Lammy MP

This landmark book tackles a deceptively simple idea: the more we spend time with people unlike ourselves, doing things together, the more understanding, tolerant, and even friendly we become.

Combining fresh analysis with a wealth of fascinating examples, Jon Yates demonstrates the ways in which our societies have become disconnected, so that most of us spend less and less time with people who are different — as defined by age, race, or class, earning power or education.

By answering a series of surprising questions, Yates reveals a set of truths that will change the way you think about yourself and those around you. What unites the England football team, the iPod and Singapore? How did a city that funded its schools the least become the best place to grow up poor? How did Silicon Valley come from nowhere to dominate the tech industry? How did a village of Italian-Americans become incredibly healthy while smoking cigars, drinking red wine and never exercising? And why is talking to our friends about politics the worst thing we can do for our democracy?

Fractured is ultimately an optimistic book, showing convincingly how great people are when they're united in diversity. It argues that the pandemic has created an unprecedented opportunity for us to come together. So we must forge a new ‘Common Life’ – a set of shared practises and institutions — that can strengthen the glue that bonds our societies, in all their diversity.

For the health of our democracy, our society, and our economy, the time to act is now.

1140948821
Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

‘An urgent manifesto for collective healing.’ David Lammy MP

This landmark book tackles a deceptively simple idea: the more we spend time with people unlike ourselves, doing things together, the more understanding, tolerant, and even friendly we become.

Combining fresh analysis with a wealth of fascinating examples, Jon Yates demonstrates the ways in which our societies have become disconnected, so that most of us spend less and less time with people who are different — as defined by age, race, or class, earning power or education.

By answering a series of surprising questions, Yates reveals a set of truths that will change the way you think about yourself and those around you. What unites the England football team, the iPod and Singapore? How did a city that funded its schools the least become the best place to grow up poor? How did Silicon Valley come from nowhere to dominate the tech industry? How did a village of Italian-Americans become incredibly healthy while smoking cigars, drinking red wine and never exercising? And why is talking to our friends about politics the worst thing we can do for our democracy?

Fractured is ultimately an optimistic book, showing convincingly how great people are when they're united in diversity. It argues that the pandemic has created an unprecedented opportunity for us to come together. So we must forge a new ‘Common Life’ – a set of shared practises and institutions — that can strengthen the glue that bonds our societies, in all their diversity.

For the health of our democracy, our society, and our economy, the time to act is now.

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Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

by Jon Yates
Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

by Jon Yates

Paperback

$18.99 
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Overview

‘An urgent manifesto for collective healing.’ David Lammy MP

This landmark book tackles a deceptively simple idea: the more we spend time with people unlike ourselves, doing things together, the more understanding, tolerant, and even friendly we become.

Combining fresh analysis with a wealth of fascinating examples, Jon Yates demonstrates the ways in which our societies have become disconnected, so that most of us spend less and less time with people who are different — as defined by age, race, or class, earning power or education.

By answering a series of surprising questions, Yates reveals a set of truths that will change the way you think about yourself and those around you. What unites the England football team, the iPod and Singapore? How did a city that funded its schools the least become the best place to grow up poor? How did Silicon Valley come from nowhere to dominate the tech industry? How did a village of Italian-Americans become incredibly healthy while smoking cigars, drinking red wine and never exercising? And why is talking to our friends about politics the worst thing we can do for our democracy?

Fractured is ultimately an optimistic book, showing convincingly how great people are when they're united in diversity. It argues that the pandemic has created an unprecedented opportunity for us to come together. So we must forge a new ‘Common Life’ – a set of shared practises and institutions — that can strengthen the glue that bonds our societies, in all their diversity.

For the health of our democracy, our society, and our economy, the time to act is now.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780008463991
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 08/09/2022
Pages: 368
Product dimensions: 4.90(w) x 7.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jon Yates is Executive Director of the Youth Endowment Fund, a charitable organisation focused on supporting young people. He has co-founded a series of charities designed to bring people together, and served as a government adviser. He tweets as @jonpayates and blogs at jonyates.org.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Introduction 5

Part I The Humpty Dumpty Effect

1 The Problem You Knew About All Along 17

2 The Villain of Our Story 28

3 The Hero Hidden in Our History 42

4 A Secret Weakness 58

5 Coming Apart 85

Part II Why We're Fracturing Now

6 The Disruptive Power of Change 103

7 The Triumph of Choice 123

8 The Distance Between Us 136

9 The Difference That Difference Makes 153

Part III Why Fractures Matter

10 Social Mobility 173

11 Democracy 183

12 Health 199

13 The Economy 211

14 Security 227

Part IV How to Put Ourselves Back Together Again

15 The Trilemma We Face 253

16 The Gradual-Change Society 269

17 The Strengthened Society 277

Epilogue: Thirty-Two Things You Can Do Right Now 293

Further Reading 299

Acknowledgements 303

Notes 307

Index 343

Book Credits 355

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