Sayer’s ‘Why we can’t afford the rich’ wins Townsend 2015 Prize

The British Academy’s Peter Townsend prize celebrates Townsend’s immense contribution to the social sciences by providing an award that recognises excellence in social policy and sociology. This year we are thrilled to announce that our author Andrew Sayer has won the prize for his book Why we can’t afford the rich. In today’s post Policy Press director Alison Shaw celebrates Andrew’s achievement.

I am delighted that Andrew Sayer has won the Peter Townsend Prize. This is extremely well deserved on Andrew’s part. 

The prize is awarded biennially for outstanding work with policy relevance on a topic to which Townsend made a major contribution.

It was established in commemoration of Peter Townsend, one of the most distinguished global figures in contemporary social policy and sociology. As an international researcher and public intellectual, he made an immeasurable contribution to analysis and policy-making in the areas of poverty and inequality, health inequalities, disability and older people. He was a Fellow of the British Academy.

Challenging times

We are living in challenging times and there has been a strong response from the academic community to the increasing inequality in society and the rise in associated social problems. As a result, this year there were a high number of quality prize submissions and Andrew can be justifiably proud of winning this award against stiff competition.

“The book bursts the myth of the rich as especially talented wealth creators”

Why we can’t afford the rich turns economic orthodoxy on its head and demonstrates how over the last 30 years the rich, and in particular the super-rich, worldwide have increased their ability to hide their wealth, create indebtedness and expand their political influence.

The book bursts the myth of the rich as especially talented wealth creators and shows how the unsustainable growth that is propagated by the rich is creating an additional risk to the planet.

Andrew has taken a significant body of detailed statistical data and research, economic theory and political philosophy, and translated it into a highly readable and engaging book that provides new ways of thinking and approaches to policy.

Policy Press strives to publish high quality work that makes a contribution not only to academia but beyond to wider society and Why we can’t afford the rich does this perfectly. It is described by readers on Amazon as ‘a cracking read’, ‘absolutely gobsmacking’ and ‘up there with the best I have ever read.”

“…..’the most persuasive, articulate and stimulating political treatise I have read in many a day’….”

It is not just for those on one side of the political spectrum, another reader said “This is the most persuasive, articulate and stimulating political treatise I have read in many a day. I disagree with most of it but, my goodness, Andrew Sayer has a passion for his subject.” Quite something for a seriously well-researched and theorized academic contribution. This is just the kind of far reaching work that Peter Townsend would have engaged with and that the Townsend prize celebrates.
I am delighted for  Andrew Sayer and offer congratulations to him from the whole of the Policy Press team on his achievement.

Why we can’t afford the rich is available for purchase from our website here (RRP £19.99) and will be out soon in paperback. Don’t forget Policy Press newsletter subscribers get a 35% discount when ordering through our website. If you’re not a subscriber yet why not sign up here today and join our Policy Press community

Enjoyed this? Then we think you might also enjoy one of our most popular blog posts FACT: We can’t afford the rich in which Andrew provides some insights into what motivated him to write the book and why he believes we really can’t afford the rich…