On Being Unreasonable: Breaking the Rules and Making Things Better

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Manners, order and respect... these are all ideals we subscribe to. In opposedpositions, we ought to be able to 'agree to disagree'. Today's world is builtfrom structures of standards and reason, but it is imperative to ask who constructedthese norms, and why. We are more divided than ever before-alonglines of race, gender, class, disability-and it's time to question who benefitsthe most. What if our propensity to measure human behaviour against rulesand reason is actually more problematic than it might seem

Kirsty Sedgman shows how power dynamics and the social biases involvedhave resulted in a wide acceptance of what people should and shouldn't do,but they create discriminatory realities and amount to a societal facade that isdangerous for genuine social progress. From taking the knee to breastfeedingin public, from neighbourhood vigilantism to the Colston Four-and exploringideas around ethics, justice, society, and equality along the way-Sedgman exploresnotions of civility throughout history up to now.


On Being Unreasonable mounts a vital and spirited defence of why and howbeing unreasonable can help improve the world. It examines and parses thepros and cons of our rules around reason, but leaves us with the rousing question:What if behaving unreasonably at times might be the best way to bringabout meaningful change that is long overdue

Author Bio

An award-winning cultural studies scholar based at the Universityof Bristol, Dr Kirsty Sedgman publishes and speakson art, media, participation, and cultural sociology. She isthe author of numerous academic publications, includingtwo monographs and an edited book on theatre fandom, andis Editor of the Routledge book series in Audience Research.Kirsty has also written for The Stage, Exeunt, andthe BBC's Expert Series, and her work has been featured inthe Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, and the NewYork Times