Books:
The Social Edge
Anthony Costello
Our twenty first century world faces a series of unprecedented crises. Pandemics of loneliness, obesity and diabetes. Spiralling inequality. Financial meltdowns. Environmental destruction.
We’re obsessed with finding big, complicated, technological solutions to these modern ills.
But what if the solutions lie not in techno fixes, but in harnessing the power of one of the oldest and simplest human units – the sympathy group – the smallest social unit outside the family? In a radical new argument, Professor Anthony Costello shows how the power, ingenuity and tenacity of small groups:
- Has guided the course of human history, hidden in plain sight, from hunter-gatherer societies to the present day,
- Dramatically improved health and survival of mothers and infants in Asia and Africa,
- Could re-ignite revolutionary social change in over-individualised societies for our sustainable future,
- Can radically change how we address the culture of government, finance and economics.
In this fascinating and important book, Professor Costello dares to suggest twenty-two social experiments to underpin solutions to our modern crises, and lays out ideas to help managers and decision-makers create an ecology for success.
How This Book Will Help You
People talk a lot about how to ‘take back control’ or to bring about social transformation or ‘behaviour change’. The Social Edge is about proven community group methods. How we can harness the power of our sympathy groups, the 15 or so people who tackle local challenges through conversation and shared effort. And we can use scientific methods to ensure thay have impact at scale.
Community groups coming together to solve their own problems could:
- Help tens of millions of people who are lonely or suffer from long term conditions like diabetes, mental health and cardiovascular disease
- Improve company productivity through staff sympathy groups rather than expensive management consultancy
- Tackle antisocial behaviour, prison reform and rehabilitation
- Respond to our climate and sustainability crisis and move towards a zero carbon economy
- Change the culture of money, economics and banking to stop a rerun of the biggest financial crash in history
- ‘Take back control’ through person-centred government in a truly relational state
The Social Edge brings a new ‘ancestral’ perspective to our twenty first century challenges. Through stories, humour and experiments Professor Anthony Costello offers new solutions for decision makers in public and private organisations.
About the Author
Anthony Costello studied medicine and psychology at Cambridge University and trained in pediatrics. An award-winning professor of child health, he directed the Institute for Global Health at University College London. Previously he worked for the National Health Service. From 2015 to 2018 he was director of maternal, child and adolescent health at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Anthony Costello is a well-known speaker and commentator on global health with over 360 academic publications. He spent 20 years studying the science of community participation through women’s sympathy groups in Bangladesh, India, Malawi, Nepal and the UK. Working with health, management, anthropology, economics and nutrition professionals he discovered that groups brought dramatic improvements in maternal and newborn health and survival. He has also chaired three major Lancet Commissions on the health effects of climate change. In 2016 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Medical Journal.
His own sympathy groups have encompassed a book circle, a soul band, a cricket club, and research teams in different cultures. He lives in Geneva and London with his wife and three children.
Sympathy Groups
Sympathy groups are the smallest gatherings beyond families at the social edge, the silent engine to build our future.
Books:
The Social Edge
Anthony Costello
Our twenty first century world faces a series of unprecedented crises. Pandemics of loneliness, obesity and diabetes. Spiralling inequality. Financial meltdowns. Environmental destruction.
We’re obsessed with finding big, complicated, technological solutions to these modern ills.
But what if the solutions lie not in techno fixes, but in harnessing the power of one of the oldest and simplest human units – the sympathy group – the smallest social unit outside the family? In a radical new argument, Professor Anthony Costello shows how the power, ingenuity and tenacity of small groups:
- Has guided the course of human history, hidden in plain sight, from hunter-gatherer societies to the present day,
- Dramatically improved health and survival of mothers and infants in Asia and Africa,
- Could re-ignite revolutionary social change in over-individualised societies for our sustainable future,
- Can radically change how we address the culture of government, finance and economics.
In this fascinating and important book, Professor Costello dares to suggest twenty-two social experiments to underpin solutions to our modern crises, and lays out ideas to help managers and decision-makers create an ecology for success.
About the Author
Anthony Costello studied medicine and psychology at Cambridge University and trained in pediatrics. An award-winning professor of child health, he directed the Institute for Global Health at University College London. Previously he worked for the National Health Service. From 2015 to 2018 he was director of maternal, child and adolescent health at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Anthony Costello is a well-known speaker and commentator on global health with over 360 academic publications. He spent 20 years studying the science of community participation through women’s sympathy groups in Bangladesh, India, Malawi, Nepal and the UK. Working with health, management, anthropology, economics and nutrition professionals he discovered that groups brought dramatic improvements in maternal and newborn health and survival. He has also chaired three major Lancet Commissions on the health effects of climate change. In 2016 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Medical Journal.
His own sympathy groups have encompassed a book circle, a soul band, a cricket club, and research teams in different cultures. He lives in Geneva and London with his wife and three children.
How This Book Will Help You
People talk a lot about how to ‘take back control’ or to bring about social transformation or ‘behaviour change’. The Social Edge is about proven community group methods. How we can harness the power of our sympathy groups, the 15 or so people who tackle local challenges through conversation and shared effort. And we can use scientific methods to ensure thay have impact at scale.
Community groups coming together to solve their own problems could:
- Help tens of millions of people who are lonely or suffer from long term conditions like diabetes, mental health and cardiovascular disease
- Improve company productivity through staff sympathy groups rather than expensive management consultancy
- Tackle antisocial behaviour, prison reform and rehabilitation
- Respond to our climate and sustainability crisis and move towards a zero carbon economy
- Change the culture of money, economics and banking to stop a rerun of the biggest financial crash in history
- ‘Take back control’ through person-centred government in a truly relational state
The Social Edge brings a new ‘ancestral’ perspective to our twenty first century challenges. Through stories, humour and experiments Professor Anthony Costello offers new solutions for decision makers in public and private organisations.
Sympathy Groups
Sympathy groups are the smallest gatherings beyond families at the social edge, the silent engine to build our future.