Join us from 5pm on the evening of 9 October as we work with the International Panel on Social Progress to explore social change and celebrate the launch of their three-volume report, Rethinking Society for the 21st Century.
The International Panel on Social Progress is an independent association of top research fellows with the goal of improving the core institutions of modern societies.
The report
Its new report, published by Cambridge University Press, consists of twenty-two chapters in three volumes, distills the research of 269 authors and outlines what the best social science has to say about positive social change.
Written in accessible language by fellows across the social sciences and humanities, these volumes assess the achievements of world societies in past centuries, the current trends, the dangers that we are now facing, and the possible futures in the twenty-first century. It covers the main socio-economic, political, and cultural dimensions of social progress, global as well as regional issues, and the diversity of challenges and their interplay around the world.
Rethinking Society for the 21st Century was published in June 2018. To order your copy, click here.
Launch event
Professor Grace Davie, Emeritus Professor at the University of Exeter, who in February delivered a lecture to our Emerging International Leaders on ‘How Religious is the World?’ is a key contributor to the report, and a lead author for Chapter 16, ‘Religions and social progress: critical assessments and creative partnerships’. Grace will be introducing the report at the event.
We will also be welcoming Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, a lead author for Chapter 4 on ‘Economic growth, human development and welfare’, Ottmar is the Director and Chief Economist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; he is a leading expert on climate change policy and energy economics.
Our third panellist will be Sofie Wolthers, the Director of the IPSP documentary 'A New Society', clips of which will be broadcast during Sofie's presentation
Each of the speakers will introduce different sections of the report – economic, political and cultural – and will discuss their particular contributions before taking questions from the floor.
The evening will conclude with a drinks reception.
We are grateful to Cambridge University Press for their support of this event.