Fractured examines big issues affecting ageing – such as inequality, social exclusion, belonging, loneliness. The premise of the book is that in our increasingly atomised society (exacerbated by the pandemic), we have lost our ‘Common Life’, the activities or responsibilities which bring us together in communities. Individually, we could do a lot more to reconnect to our communities, but there are also things we need to organise collectively if those individual efforts are to flourish within a climate of connectedness.

The book has four parts. Part 1 describes ‘The Humpty Dumpty Effect’ – how we gravitate towards those who resemble us – and thus how a ‘People Like Me’ (PLM) syndrome generates distance, division and social fragmenting. Citing such diverse examples as the Hadza manhood ritual, to farmers forging a common life through religious meetings, seasonal celebrations and rites of passage, and factory workers coming together in associations and clubs, the author notes that we are social animals and have evolved to find value in communal connection. But now we are in an interregnum where we haven't yet created the social bonding mechanisms we need.

Part 2 addresses ‘Why We're Fracturing Now’, citing the prevalent ‘change’ and ‘choice’ agendas. This has caused transformational changes to societies’ economic structures, leading to the abandonment of our previous Common Life. The pursuit of choice has caused us to elect to educate our children, and to live in communities, alongside people like us. These social trends have been amplified by greater geographical distance between us and increasing diversity, unsupported by effective ways of integrating such diversity.

Part 3, ‘Why Fractures Matter’, examines the damaging consequence of our lost Common Life in failures to achieve social mobility, threats to democracy, challenges to health, the hobbling of economies and undermining of our collective security.

Part 4 generates positive energy towards solutions, by presenting a ‘trilemma’, three possible solutions to the problem. We could do nothing and wait for new forms of Common Life to emerge. Or, we could follow Scandinavian countries in working for gradual change by restraining growth and immigration, and by encouraging voluntary habits of less reliance on television and more group affiliation. The ensuing slower rate of change allows space for a Common Life to flourish. Or, we could consciously drive towards a strengthened society by mandating activities to bring us together. Three possible exemplars of such mandatory activity are suggested: a month-long national community service programme for school students; a series of six half-day sessions for new parents; and local courses for recent retirees to meet and learn how to address the challenges and opportunities of life after work. Yates also offers actions individuals can take now to connect with others, such as adjusting our own behaviour and participating in political engagement.

Yates is clear that we cannot blame the problem on politicians and wider society, that we ourselves must act. I agree that we need to locate more energy within ourselves. But I also believe we need to talk about the leadership which communities and governments give, and the tone they set in promoting or diluting division. Surely public policies for tackling social exclusion form a vital part of this challenge. Perhaps this point triggers precisely the public debate which this book hopes for.

This is a well-researched book, with numerous references to explorations underpinning the argument and signposting further reading. It's also colourfully punctuated by energising accounts of ‘Common Lives’ strengthening the case for change.

This book would make a stimulating context-read for any new social sciences student. But it also builds on recent analyses of community as diverse as those of Robert Putnam (Reference Putnam2000), the work on deprived inner cities by Thomas Scharf et al. (Reference Scharf, Phillipson, Smith and Kingston2002), the Joseph Rowntree FoundationFootnote ¹ and Carnegie UK,Footnote ² and, on personal behaviours, the work of Gillian Sandstrom (Reference Sandstrom2014), and so should command a wider audience.

As with all such inquiry, what matters is the follow-through, the reflection and debate leading to action. This important book speaks to all of us, in plain English, and begs the question: ‘if not these things, then what are we going to do?’ To me the noise of that question sounds deafening.