Social Progress in Britain

In his landmark 1942 report on social insurance Sir William Beveridge talked about the 'five giants on the road to reconstruction' - the giants of Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness.

Social Progress in Britain investigates how much progress Britain has made in tackling the challenges of material deprivation, ill-health, educational standards, lack of housing, and unemployment in the decades since Beveridge wrote. It also asks how progress in Britain compares with that of peer countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the USA. Has Britain been slipping behind? What has been the impact of the increased economic inequality which Britain experienced in the 1980s -- has rising economic inequality been mirrored by increasing inequalities in other areas of life too? Have there been increasing inequalities of opportunity between social classes, men and women, and different ethnic groups? And what have been the implications for Britain's sense of social cohesion?

Anthony F. Heath is the Director of the Centre for Social Investigation, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. His publications include The Political Integration of Ethnic Minorities in Britain (with Stephen D. Fisher, Gemma Rosenblatt, David Sanders, and Maria Sobolewska, OUP, 2013), Hard Times: Inequality, Recession, Aftermath (with Tom Clark, Yale University Press, 2015), and Unequal Attainments: Ethnic Educational Inequalities in Ten Western Countries (co-edited with Yael Brimbaum, Proceedings of the British Academy, OUP, 2014).

1. Beveridge's Five Giants and Other Challenges to Social Progress
2. The Fight Against Want: Material Prosperity, Inequality and Poverty, with Elisabeth Garratt and Lindsay Richards
3. The Fight Against Disease: Life Expectancy, Disease, and Lifestyle, with Ridhi Kashyap and Elisabeth Garratt
4. The Fight Against Ignorance: Participation, Standards, and Non-Economic Outcomes, with Lindsay Richards
5. The Fight Against Squalor: Overcrowding, Homelessness, and Affordability, with Elisabeth Garratt
6. The Fight Against Idleness: Unemployment and Discouraged Workers, with Yaojun Li and Elisabeth Garratt
7. The Challenge of Inequality of Opportunity: Class, Gender, and Ethnic Inequalities, with Yaojun Li and Lindsay Richards
8. The Challenge of Social Cohesion: National Identity, Social Divisions, and Disengagement, with Lindsay Richards
Progress in Tackling Beveridge's Five Giants: the Successes and Limitations of Social Reform