The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World

'The definitive book for our times on what makes strategic ignorance so "strategic" in the hands of the powerful.' Steve Fuller, author of Post-Truth 'This is McGoey at her absolute best. And what a tour de force The Unknowers is. Each chapter weaves its way backward and forward between events and evidence, past and future making, to offer original insights into how strategic ignorance and deliberate uncertainty keep those at the top in power.' Susan L. Robertson, University of Cambridge 'The Unknowers is a landmark study of the myriad ways in which ignorance infuses our social, political and economic lives. Linsey McGoey deftly weaves social thought and empirical analysis to rethink how the power to draw the boundaries between knowledge and ignorance can radically transform society and democracy.' Claudia Aradau, King’s College London 'In this timely book, McGoey tells us how deliberate and willful ignorance are used in politics, law, media, health and especially economics, to get and keep power. And she tells us what we might do about it.' Lynne Pettinger, University of Warwick. 'Linsey McGoey carefully picks apart how strategic ignorance is a dastardly ploy that enables society’s elites to avoid responsibility for their rampant pursuit of self-interest. Essential if we are to resist what is one of the most dangerous tendencies of the new normal in global politics.' Carl Rhodes, co-author of CEO Society: The Corporate Takeover of Everyday Life.