On Being Unreasonable
Kirsty Sedgman
In a world where we all think we’re being reasonable, how can we figure out what’s right?
‘A much-needed manifesto for anyone who wants - at this time of environmental and political crisis - to be usefully unreasonable’ - Noreen Masud
PUBLICATION DATE: 1 FEBRUARY 2024 | FABER & FABER | PAPERBACK | £9.99
Award-winning scholar Dr Kirsty Sedgman has spent her career studying how
we construct and maintain our competing value systems, working out how
people can live side by side in the same world yet come to understand it in such
totally different ways.
It’s clear we’re living in an age of division. The social contract is collapsing. Bad
behaviour is everywhere. What can we do to stop it? Why can’t we all just be
reasonable? How do we figure out what’s right?
Ranging from past to present, On Being Unreasonable examines the outdated
rules, fraught with discrimination and unfairness, that shape our society.
Inviting us to imagine kinder modes of coexistence, Kirsty Sedgman asks how
we can change the world if we’re afraid to be unreasonable.
ABOUT KIRSTY SEDGMAN
Based at the University of Bristol, Dr Kirsty Sedgman has spent her career figuring out how people can live side by side in the same world yet come to understand it in such different ways. She is also the author of numerous academic publications, as well as Editor of the Routledge book series in Audience Research. Kirsty is a regular feature on media programmes from BBC Radio 4’s Front Row to the World Service to Channel 4 News and has been featured at international events such as BroadwayCon in New York and IETM in Croatia. She has discussed audience behaviour on The Guardian’s Today in Focus and USA Today’s ‘5 Things’ podcasts and her research on audiences, culture, communication, and human behaviour has also led to features on Sky News, BBC Culture, South China Morning Post, The Telegraph, Metro, Evening Standard and the front page of The New York Times.
PRAISE FOR ON BEING UNREASONABLE
‘On Being Unreasonable is that rare book which is both genuinely funny and truly important.’
Dr Elizabeth Cripps, author of What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care
‘Sedgman asks us to think deeply, and to have the courage to blaze new trails, not only for ourselves, but for all those who follow us.’
Tim Clare, author of Coward
‘This book is for you…accessible, thoroughly researched, inclusive, and engaging, Sedgman’s call to open our mouths, to step up, and to engage, unreasonably if necessary, may be just what we need in this moment.’
Stella Duffy, author, psychotherapist, and activist
‘On Being Unreasonable shows how apparently innocuous judgments about what’s reasonable, and what’s not, allow us to structure our interactions, reinforce our relationships, and police others’ behaviour. Sedgman traces the lines that both help us along and trip us up. You’ll want to read this book. You’d be unreasonable not to!’
Erik Angner, author of How Economics Can Save the World
‘A measured, considered look at the subject of reasonableness.’
The List, 4-star review
‘Very motivational, thought-provoking stuff.’
Reader Review, 5-stars
‘Thoroughly thought provoking on what counts as reason/common sense today, where it stems from, and the value of breaking those standards.’
Reader Review, 4-stars
‘Very engaging and funny.’
Reader Review, 4-stars