Why, when America and Britain are wealthier than ever, do millions of children live in poverty, neighborhoods want for basic amenities, and the middle classes fear for their families, jobs, and futures? The historical legacy of the "golden era" and the ideology of market individualism are obsessions that the New Democrats in America and the New Labour in Britain have failed to exorcize. Yet the forces of knowledge-driven capitalism provide an unprecedented opportunity to build societies more equitably based on the individual and collective intelligence of all. Capitalism and Social Progress shows how this change can be achieved.
Phil Brown was brought up in a small town near Oxford, England. He left school with little to show for twelve years of education before starting working life as a craft apprentice at the British Leyland car factory in Cowley, Oxford. The boredom of factory life drove him to take-up evening classes where he was first introduced to Sociology. This sparked a passion for the social sciences that remains as strong to this day but with a growing sense of urgency as we seem unprepared for the economic and social world Western countries have now entered. This concern is captured in many of his publications but especially The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs and Incomes.
Before becoming a Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, he worked at the University of Cambridge and University of Kent at Canterbury. He has also been a Visiting Professor at UBC in Vancouver and Science Po in Paris. He is currently conducting further research on globalisation and the future of work in seven countries including China, India and the United States.
