Kate Pickett diagnoses Britain’s social crises in new book ‘The Good Society’

LONDON — Social epidemiologist and author Kate Pickett has launched a new book titled "The Good Society," detailing what she describes as an alarming decline in the United Kingdom’s public services. The work compiles extensive research into the current state of the National Health Service (NHS), social care, education, and the prison system.

Pickett, best known for her 2009 book "The Spirit Level," continues to use data to highlight systemic social failures. Her research shows that total spending on preventive services for families dropped by 25% in the decade preceding the pandemic.

The book also reveals that local authorities in England currently meet just 6% of the demand for childcare places for disabled children. Pickett argues that minor, incremental adjustments are no longer enough to address these gaps.

Instead, the author calls for a "total change" to build a better society. Pickett acknowledged that proposing such large-scale visions is "quite risky" given the current political climate.

Kate Pickett’s latest work serves as more than a mere indictment of the United Kingdom’s recent policy failures; it is a clinical post-mortem of the neoliberal orthodoxy that has dominated Western governance for decades. At the heart of Pickett’s thesis is a rejection of the prevailing focus on individual responsibility—the "lifestyle" narrative—which she argues has become a convenient political shield for avoiding systemic reform.

Pickett identifies a phenomenon she labels "lifestyle drift" within public health policy. This occurs when the state focuses on individual choices while systematically ignoring the socioeconomic determinants that restrict them. Amid a global landscape defined by deepening inequality and institutional volatility, her call for a "grand vision" over "minor pragmatism" challenges the current political status quo.

The analysis highlights a profound exhaustion in modern political thought. Pickett notes a recurring cycle where ambitious, government-commissioned reports offer comprehensive solutions, only to be shelved following election cycles, dismissed as "utopian" by those wedded to incrementalism.

While Pickett’s data remains anchored in the British experience, the implications are global. The central question she poses is whether modern societies can overcome the inertia of individual blame to confront the structural root causes of social instability. In an era where inequality is increasingly viewed through a lens of personal failure rather than policy design, Pickett’s critique suggests that the path to stability requires a fundamental realignment of how the state intervenes in the lives of its citizens.

Although the work focuses on British society, its core theme—the tension between individual responsibility and systemic barriers—resonates deeply with the Vietnamese-American experience. Whether it’s the hustle of the nail salon industry, the growth of phở restaurants, or the cultural anchor of Little Saigon, our community has always balanced personal grit with the weight of institutional hurdles. We see this struggle reflected in the effort to send remittances back home while navigating the complexities of the immigration system—from the long wait for F2B family sponsorships and the high stakes of H-1B and EB-5 visas to the uncertainty faced by those under TPS. For the diaspora, building a new life has always meant mastering the art of personal agency within a landscape of structural challenges.