This book introduces a critical way of thinking about the narratives around which the human species has shaped itself. It considers the way in which prevailing social mindsets preclude a full understanding of our fundamental interdependency as a species. It offers not a manifesto, but a methodology framed with reference to our human ‘species being’ – to the Nature-bound, self-consciously active, socially interdependent character of a global people.

Drawing from anthropological, historical and critical social science accounts, the book examines the shaping of human consciousness, our interactions with Nature, the origins of social domination and the constraints on human sociality.

Presenting a fundamental challenge to current policy, practice and thinking in the fields of social policy, social development and beyond, this book proposes a strikingly new narrative characterisation of the human subject.