Goodhart feels something is out of kilter. “As I write at the end of April 2020, it is too early to tell whether the COVID-19 crisis will contribute to a better balance between attitudes based on head, hand and heart. But we need one. The three aptitudes overlap to different degrees, but the modern knowledge economy has produced ever rising returns for ‘Head’ workers who are highly qualified academically and reduced the relative pay and status of manual ‘Hand’ work. At the same time, many aspects of caring (‘Heart’) work, traditionally done mainly by women in the gift economy of the family, continue to be undervalued even as care work has become an increasingly critical part of the public economy and was so widely applauded (literally)"… (p6).
In response we should “aim for society as open and mobile as possible but not restrict our political ambition to designing better ladder up. Instead, our politics should place more emphasis on a wider spread of respect, dignity and regard... we need, in other words, to treat people democratically. It is adjustment our democracies are now demanding” (p26).
Is this part of our Kingdom calling?
For a review from TES click here.
To purchase and decide for yourself, click here.
