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The present politically angst-ridden times, of apparently worrying about 'fairness' as we slash public services, provide a highly relevant context to Danny Dorling's book Injustice. The book will be of interest to academic audiences as well as anyone concerned with inequality and social justice. The premise is that injustice arises not only from the unequal and unfair distribution of resources, but also from a set of growing attitudes and beliefs which sustain inequalities. As affluent parts of the world have been able to address some of the consequences of the five giant social evils that concerned Beveridge: ignorance, want, idleness, squalor and disease; we have replaced these with a set of ideas that maintain these inequalities. These are that 'elitism is efficient', 'exclusion is necessary', 'prejudice is natural', 'greed is good' and 'despair is inevitable'. The book is structured so that each of these tenets are explored in detail in each chapter, and Dorling brings a lively and impassioned approach to presenting the detail of his evidence to support his assertions.
Addressing the idea that 'elitism is efficient', in Chapter 3 Dorling suggests education is less concerned with addressing ignorance, and more about ranking and dividing children. The consequences are that we come to...