num_pages: 321
description: A New Statesman Book of the YearAS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4'S BOOK OF THE WEEK'Hashi Mohamed powerfully exposes the alienating and segregating effect of social immobility in this country.' David Lammy'A moving shocking and clear-eyed account of the increasingly rare phenomenon of social mobility. Using his own extraordinary story as a spine [Hashi Mohamed] has written an analysis how-to-guide and polemic on getting on and up in Britain today.' - Grayson Perry'Beautifully written and powerfully argued People Like Us is essential reading' The Secret BarristerWhat does it take to make it in modern Britain?Ask a politician and they'll tell you it's hard work. Ask a millionaire and they'll tell you it's talent. Ask a CEO and they'll tell you it's dedication. But what if none of those things is enough?Raised on benefits and having attended some of the lowest-performing schools in the country barrister Hashi Mohamed knows something about social mobility. In People Like Us  he shares what he has from the stark statistics that reveal the depth of the problem to the failures of imagination education and confidence that compound it.We live in a society where the single greatest indicator of what your job will be is the job of your parents. Where power and privilege are concentrated among the 7 per cent of the population who were privately educated. Where if your name sounds black or Asian you'll need to send out twice as many job applications as your white neighbour.Wherever you are on the social spectrum this is an essential investigation into our society's most intractable problem. We have more power than we realise to change things for the better.
language: English
title: People Like Us: What it Takes to Make it in Modern Britain
publisher: Profile Books