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The Good Society

And How We Make It

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The Good Society

By: Kate Pickett
Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A fairer, healthier, more caring and sustainable society is entirely within our grasp. The renowned co-author of The Spirit Level shows us the way.

• How do we ensure that everyone has good health and receives the care they need?
• How do we provide education that allows every child to flourish?
• How do we ensure safety, justice and a sustainable environment for all?

Kate Pickett is a world-leading social scientist whose life’s work has been to identify the underlying causes of society’s most important problems – and the long-term solutions that will actually work.

In this inspiring book, she shows that to make a good society – in which everyone has what they need to be well, and everyone would be better off – we must prioritise the health, care, education and rehabilitation of those who have the least and suffer the most. This means confronting once and for all the fundamental problems of poverty and inequality that lie behind all the others.

Drawing on over three decades of evidence, and an array of proven solutions and real-world success stories from across the globe, The Good Society cuts to the essence of the challenges we face and presents us with a practical, galvanising, perspective-shifting vision for how to tackle them.

'Just what these times are crying out for’ KATE RAWORTH, author of Doughnut Economics

© Kate Pickett 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Politics & Government Social Classes & Economic Disparity Sociology Health

Critic Reviews

Thought-provoking, erudite . . . contains a vital positive message: we can move towards a fairer, healthier, more compassionate and sustainable society . . . Pickett . . . shines a light for hope (Martin Chilton)
In her new book, the co-author of The Spirit Level gathers jaw-dropping facts about the inequality crisis in the UK – and explores creative ways to address it . . . There was a moment when reading Kate Pickett’s new book that I realised I was underlining something on nearly every page . . . there is nothing small about Pickett’s proposals . . . a clear blueprint for the UK (Aida Edemariam)
Daringly optimistic . . . It is valuable to remind people of the building blocks of a good society: decent healthcare, education and treatment of the less well-off
The Good Society has lots of ideas . . . a whistle-stop tour of the greatest hits of progressive social policy, from Finnish schools to Norwegian prisons . . . [the] section on Universal Basic Income . . . represents a serious and substantive proposal for tackling both inequality and injustice (Jonathan Portes)
Packed with vision, hope and a practical plan – just what these times are crying out for (Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics)
An electrifying book: audacious in its range, blistering in its analysis and yet warm and immensely readable (Polly Morland, author of A Fortunate Woman)
Genuinely transformative, grounded in rigorous evidence and focused on what really matters. A powerful and deeply humane vision (Daniel Chandler, author of Free and Equal)
An uplifting vision for solving inequality that benefits everyone (Andy Burnham)
Poverty and inequality are at the heart of all our problems. Kate Pickett's book shows through a consistent frame of care and compassion how tackling them must be at the heart of our solutions too (Zack Polanski)
This is what we need. A clear roadmap that makes the case for how things can be better in achievable and realistic ways (Sammy Wright, author of Exam Nation)
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