Centre for Social Policy Fellows Meeting

This spring's fellows meeting will host David Gordon, Professor of Social Policy, University of Bristol, and Professor Ewan Anderson.

The event will take place at Dartington Hall, and will feature fellows from the Centre for Social Policy. To find out more about the event, please call Kay Turner at 01803-762-400. 
 
The report by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, the Spirit Level explores the apparent contradiction between the material success and social failings of many modern societies and argues that a key factor is inequality in societies rather than levels of poverty per se. Demonstrates that more unequal societies are bad for almost everyone in them, the well off as well as the poor.
 
David Gordon, who is conducting a large international comparative study of poverty, will discuss the latest thinking about the definitions and measurements used and the way these can be used to evaluate the Spirit Level thesis. The Social Research Unit has undertaken numerous epidemiological studies on the needs of children and families and will present findings from these, paying particular attention to the significance of poverty as an explanatory factor and the extent to which the Spirit Level thesis extends this knowledge.
 
Restorative justice is one of the three guiding planks (along with Prevention and Integration) in the proposals of the recent Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Anti Social Behaviour, Time for a Fresh Start – see www.preventionaction.com, and search for 18th November 2010 edition. Ewan Anderson will discuss the thinking behind this approach and the success of its recent implementation.