Latest thinking

High inequality, low integration - two sides of the same coin?

Blog

20 Oct 2014

Matthew Taylor

Today sees the second report of the Social Integration Commission, which I chair. It has been published on the same day as the 2014 State of the Nation report of the Social Mobility Commission and there are important overlaps between the reports: Inequality and segregation go together and fuel each other.......

Reading change differently

Blog

08 Sep 2014

Matthew Taylor

In some recent posts I have explored new ways of thinking about the pursuit of social change. I have also questioned the centrality in pursuing such change normally accorded by politicians and their advisors to traditional policy making.

You can distribute power and wealth or you can concentrate it but you can't do both. Politicians pretend otherwise

Blog

31 Aug 2014

As I do the research for my book Small is Powerful, I'm sharing some of my early thoughts through my blog. Here's the latest.

Religion and politics - the great unifiers?

Blog

30 Jun 2014

Matthew Taylor

What can we do about divisive and damaging attitudes to the poor? Knowing more people from other classes would be a good start.

Old states, new technologies

Blog

24 Apr 2014

Matthew Taylor

I agree with Adam Lent. There is no fundamental reason why the accelerating capacity of new technology to undertake tasks previously the domain of skilled humans should lead us to be pessimistic about the prospects for social progress. All things being equal, rising productivity driven by technological advance provides the basis for sustained economic growth and sustained economic growth (especially if that growth is focussed on the quality not the quantity of production) should mean more people being able to pay each other to have their needs met and desires fulfilled.

The good society - it's time to talk

Blog

30 Jan 2014

Matthew Taylor

I'm in Helsinki to meet with our growing band of Finnish Fellows and to speak tomorrow at a conference they have organised. Rather to my consternation not only am I sharing a platform with some rather senior Finnish figures but the title for my talk seems to be simply 'good society'. Apart from 'the meaning of life' it is harder to imagine a tougher brief for a twenty minute speech. Nevertheless I will have a go and what follows will be a key part of my argument.

How do we solve our biggest problems when power and authority is dying?

Blog

19 Jan 2014

Moises Naim came to speak at the RSA last week. His thesis is that we are witnessing the ‘end of power’ or, at least, the end of concentrated and effective power as we used to know it. As he puts it: “power has become perishable, transient, evanescent”. He argues this is true not just of government but also business, religion and military affairs.

Can policy save politics?

Blog

10 Jan 2014

Matthew Taylor

Although often elided the respective domains of ‘policy’ and ‘politics’ are animated by different imperatives and cultures. The former aims for solutions, prizing objectivity and technical know-how: the latter aims for power and values strategic guile. Different kinds of people (or people at different stages of their lives) tend to be attracted to policy and politics and members of each tribe tend to view the other with an enervating mixture of contempt, suspicion and envy.

Will it really take 70 years to achieve gender-balanced boardrooms in the UK?

Blog

03 Jun 2013

Guest blog by Carol Jackson, Chief Operating Officer, the RSA: