Michael Dunlop Young, Baron Young of Dartington (9 August 1915 – 14 January 2002), was a British sociologist, social activist and left-wing politician. Young was an

urbanist Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, a profession focusing on the design and management of urban a ...

, known as an academic researcher, polemicist and institution-builder. During his career, Young was influential in shaping the policy and ideology of the Labour Party. As secretary of the policy committee of the Labour Party, he was responsible for drafting ''Let Us Face the Future'', Labour's manifesto for the 1945 general election. Young was a leading advocate for social reform, and in that capacity he founded or helped to found a number of organisations. These include the Consumers' Association, ''

Which? ''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights, and offering indepen ...

'' magazine, the

National Consumer Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

, the Institute for Community Studies, the National Extension College, the Open College of the Arts and Language Line, a telephone-interpreting business.

Early life and education

Young was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, the son of Ernest Gibson Young, an Australian violinist and music critic, and Edith Hermia Dunlop, an Irish Bohemian painter and actress. According to Michael's son, Toby, Gibson was a "ne'er-do-well", and "the only silver his forebears possessed was what they were able to steal from the gentry." Young grew up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He returned to England at the age of eight, shortly before the end of his parents' marriage. There he attended several schools, eventually entering Dartington Hall, a new progressive school in Devon, in the 1920s. He had a long association with the small school, as student, trustee, deputy chairman and historian. He studied economics at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(BScEcon, MA), then became a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

when he applied to be

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1939. Young began studying for a PhD at the LSE in 1952. His thesis, dated 1955, was title
A study of the extended family in East London

Social research and community activism

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Young served as director of the

Political and Economic Planning Political and Economic Planning (PEP) was a British policy think tank, formed in 1931 in response to Max Nicholson's article ''A National Plan for Britain'' published in February of that year in Gerald Barry's magazine ''The Week-End Review''. Hi ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

and became director of research for the Labour Party, where he wrote the manifesto for the 1945 general election and the vast speakers' handbook. He served under the Labour government led by

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

. In 1947, he called for the establishment of a

Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it maintains a headqua ...

and became its first director 17 years later. He left the Labour Party in 1950, saying the party had run out of ideas. Young's studies of housing and local government policy in East London, which developed from his doctoral thesis, left him disillusioned with the state of community relations and local Labour councillors. This prompted him to found the

Institute of Community Studies The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation is a United Kingdom, British non-profit research institute that works with communities, organisations, and policymakers to effect social change. It was founded in 1953 and is based in ...

, which was his principal vehicle for exploring his ideas of social reform. Its basic tenet was to give people more say in running their lives and institutions. Lise Butler argues that the Institute drew upon existing bodies of research in social psychology and sociology to highlight the relevance of the extended family in modern society and to offer a model of socialist citizenship, solidarity and mutual support not tied to productive work. Young promoted the supportive kinship networks of the urban working class, and an idealized conception of the relationships between women, to suggest that family had been overlooked by the left and should be reclaimed as a progressive force. The goal was to strengthen the working-class family as a model for cooperative socialism. He also founded the Mutual Aid Centre at this time. Young co-authored (with Peter Willmott) '' Family and Kinship in East London'', documenting and analysing the social costs of rehousing a tight-knit community in a suburban housing estate (known affectionately by sociologists as ''Fakinel'' and invariably pronounced with a

cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...

accent).In

Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...

fa.kɪ.neəl sounds like an expletive In 1958, Young wrote the influential satire ''

The Rise of the Meritocracy ''The Rise of the Meritocracy'' is a book by British sociologist and politician Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington, Michael Dunlop Young which was first published in 1958. It describes a dystopian society in a future United Kingdom in whic ...

'' for the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

, which refused to publish it. The book critiques the concept of "

meritocracy Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than ...

" as unachievable and undesirable, describing a dystopian future of a society in which "IQ + effort" have replaced all other values. Young's social research also contributed to the change in secondary education that led to widespread abolition of

grammar schools A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

and their replacement by comprehensive schools between 1965 and 1976, as well as the abolition of the 11-plus. Although unwilling to maintain a conventional academic career, Young was a fellow of

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

, from 1961 to 1966, and president of

Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...

, from 1989 to 1992.

Organisational activity

An energetic and resourceful man, Young established many new organisations with the aim of providing "bottom-up" practical help to ordinary citizens. In the 1950s and 1960s he helped to found the Consumers' Association and the National Consumer Council, claiming that "politics will become less and less the politics of production, and more and more the politics of consumption," presenting the ideas in a booklet, ''The Chipped White Cups Of Dover'' (1960). In 1960, he started the Advisory Centre for Education the National Extension College and, with

Peter Laslett Thomas Peter Ruffell Laslett (18 December 1915 – 8 November 2001) was an English historian. Biography Laslett was the son of a Baptist minister and was born in Bedford on 18 December 1915. Although he spent much of his childhood in Oxford, h ...

, a dawn university on Anglia Television, which became prototypes of the

which

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

launched in 1964, building on his vision. In the mid-1980s, Young co-founded

International Alert International Alert is a global peacebuilding charity established in 1986. It aims to promote dialogue, training, research, policy analysis, advocacy, and outreach activities. The organization addresses the root causes of conflict by working wi ...

, together with Leo Kuper and

Martin Ennals Martin Ennals (27 July 19275 October 1991) was a British human rights activist. Ennals served as the secretary-general of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. He went on to help found the British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19 in 19 ...

. Later on that decade, in 1987, he founded the Open College of the Arts, confounding critics who maintained that the arts could not be taught by distance methods. He also founded Language Line, a telephone interpreting business, to enable non-English-speaking people to have equal access to public services. He fostered the work of many younger researchers and "social entrepreneurs," and founded the School for Social Entrepreneurs in 1997. Aspects of Young's work were developed by the

Young Foundation The Young Foundation is a not-for-profit, organisation driving community research and social innovation. It is named after Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington, Michael Young, the British sociologist and social activist who created over 60 ...

, created from the merger of his Institute of Community Studies and his Mutual Aid Centre, under the direction of

Geoff Mulgan Sir Geoffrey John Mulgan CBE (born 1961) is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). From 2011 to 2019 he was chief executive of the National Endowment for Science Technolo ...

. Throughout his life, and particularly in later life, Young was concerned for older people. In 1982 he co-founded the

University of the Third Age The University of the Third Age (U3A), is an international movement whose aims are the education and stimulation of mainly retired members of the community — those in their third 'age' of life. There is no universally accepted model for the U ...

with Peter Laslett and Eric Midwinter, and Linkage, bringing together older people without grandchildren and young people without grandparents. In 2001 he co-founded the charity Grandparents Plus to champion the role of the wider family in children's lives.

Later political career

Although he maintained steadfast

egalitarian Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...

convictions, Young accepted a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

on 20 March 1978, taking the Labour whip and the title Baron Young of Dartington, ''of Dartington in the County of Devon''. His many projects required frequent travel to London, and the peerage offered free rail travel and attendance allowance at a time when he had run out of money. In 1981, Young defected from Labour to the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SDP), and was one of 100 supporters whose names were published alongside the SDP's founding statement, the

Limehouse Declaration The Limehouse Declaration was a statement issued on 25 January 1981 by four senior United Kingdom, British Labour Party (UK), Labour politicians, all Member of Parliament, MPs or former MPs and Cabinet Ministers: Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rod ...

, that February. Although hitherto largely aloof from the factionalism then devouring Labour, Young's disregard for the statist and trade union-oriented aspects of its post-war

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

philosophy meant he was receptive to the idea of a new progressive party forming in its stead (he had already tentatively advocated the formation of a "Consumers' Party" in ''The Chipped White Cups of Dover''). Upon joining the SDP, he became a member of the party's policy committee and director of its in-house think tank, The Tawney Society. An associate of the SDP's second leader,

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later ...

, Young refused to back the party's merger with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in 1988 and instead followed Owen into the 'continuing' SDP. A year later he chose to return to Labour after, in Owen's words, the party's "big switch on the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

, market economics and

Trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

." Young remained sceptical of Labour's ability to win the next election and believed that it still had to face up to the task of modernising socialism, which had, he said, "lagged so badly since Tony Crosland died." According to Young's friend Eric Midwinter, "All his thought, all his incisive writing, all his brilliantly conceived schemes, all his astutely handled initiatives were guided by a salient method. He was a utopian socialist. His thinking stemmed from the views of 19th-century radicals like

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...

, Saint-Simon or

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (; ; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker, and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of his views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have be ...

, with their hatred of massive institutionalism, be it in the hands of the public authority or of the large commercial company."

Personal life

Young married three times. In 1945 he married Joan Lawton, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. They later divorced, and in December 1961 he married Sasha (daughter of Raisley Stewart Moorsom and a descendant of Admiral Sir Robert Moorsom), a novelist, sculptor and painter with whom he had a daughter (who was born before their marriage) and a son, the journalist and writer

Toby Young Toby Daniel Moorsom Young, Baron Young of Acton (born 17 October 1963), is a British social commentator and life peer. He is the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, an associate editor of ''The Spectator'', creator of '' The Daily S ...

. Young and Moorsom worked together on several projects, including in the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

s of South Africa. Moorsom died in 1993 and in 1995 Young married 37-year-old milliner Dorit Uhlemann, with whom he had a daughter Gaia, who died in July 2021 aged 25.

Bibliography

*''Will the War Make Us Poorer?'' ith Sir Henry Noel Young(1943) *''Civil Aviation'' (1944) *''The Trial of Adolf Hitler'' (1944) *''There's Work for All'' ith Theodor Prager">Theodor_Prager.html" ;"title="ith Theodor Prager">ith Theodor Prager(1945) *''Labour's Plan for Plenty'' (1947) *''What is a Socialised Industry?'' (1947) *''Small Man, Big World: A Discussion of Socialist Democracy'' (1949) *''Fifty Million Unemployed'' (1952) *''Study of the Extended Family in East London'' (1955) *'' Family and Kinship in East London'' Peter Willmott">ith Peter Willmott (sociologist)">Peter Willmott(1957) *''

'' (1958) *''Chipped White Cups of Dover: A Discussion of the Possibility of a New Progressive Party'' (1960) *''Family and Class in a London Suburb'' [with Peter Willmott] (1960) *''New Look at Comprehensive Schools'' [with Michael Armstrong] (1964) *''Innovation and Research in Education'' (1967) *''Forecasting and the Social Sciences'' [ed.] (1968) *''Hornsey Plan: A Role for Neighbourhood Councils in the New Local Government'' (1971) *''Is Equality a Dream?'' (1972) *''Lifeline Telephone Service for the Elderly: An Account of a Pilot Project in Hull'' ith Peter G. Gregory">Peter_G._Gregory.html" ;"title="ith Peter G. Gregory">ith Peter G. Gregory(1972) *''Learning Begins at Home: A Study of a Junior School and its Parents'' [with Patrick McGeeney] (1973) *''Symmetrical Family: A Study of Work and Leisure in the London Region'' [with Peter Willmott] (1973) *''Mutual Aid in a Selfish Society: A Plea for Strengthening the Co-operative Movement'' ith Marianne Rigge">Marianne_Rigge.html" ;"title="ith Marianne Rigge">ith Marianne Rigge(1979) *''Building Societies and the Consumer: A Report'' ith Marianne Rigge(1981) *''Report from Hackney: A Study of an Inner-City Area'' [with others] (1981) *''The Elmhirsts of Dartington: The Creation of an Utopian Community'' (1982) *''Inflation, Unemployment and the Remoralisation of Society'' (1982) *''Up the Hill to Cowley Street: Views of Tawney Members on SDP Policy'' d. with Tony Flower and Peter Hall (urbanist)">Peter Hall">Tony_Flower<_a.html" ;"title="Tony_Flower.html" ;"title="d. with Tony Flower">d. with Tony Flower and Peter Hall (urbanist)">Peter Hall(1982) *''Revolution from Within: Cooperatives and Cooperation in British Industry'' ith Marianne Rigge(1983) *''Social Scientist as Innovator'' (1983) *''To Merge or Not to Merge?'' (1983) *''Development of New Growth Areas: Workers' Cooperatives and Their Environment: Comparative Analysis with a View to Job Creation: Support for Worker Cooperatives in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands'' ith Marianne Rigge(1985) *''Metronomic Society: Natural Rhythms and Human Timetables'' (1988) *''Rhythms of society'' d. with Tom Schuller">Tom_Schuller.html" ;"title="d. with Tom Schuller">d. with Tom Schuller(1988) *''Campaign for Children's After-School Clubs: The Case for Action'' [with Matthew Owen] (1991) *''Life After Work: The Arrival of the Ageless Society'' [with Tom Schuller, Johnston Birchall and Gwyneth Vernon) (1991) *''Governing London'' [with Jerry White (author), Jerry White] (1996) *''The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict'' ith Geoff Dench and Kate Gavron">Geoff_Dench.html" ;"title="ith Geoff Dench">ith Geoff Dench and Kate Gavron] (2006)

List of institutions established with the involvement of Michael Young

, 1954 (director 1954–2002, now part of the

) * Consumers' Association, 1957 (chairman 1957–65, president 1965–93) * Research Institute for Disabled Consumers, 1963 (chairman 1963) *South African Committee for Higher Education, 1959 (founding sponsor) * Botswana Extension College, 1959 * Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre, 1959 * Advisory Centre for Education, 1959 * Bethnal Green Exports Ltd., 1964–66 *

, 1965 (chairman 1965–68) * Thameside Research and Development Group, 1967–69 *

, 1975 (chairman 1975–77) * National Extension College, 1962 (chairman 1962–71) *

, 1964 * National Innovations Centre, 1968–74 * Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care, 1970–94 * International Extension College, 1971–2006 * Social Audit, 1972 * Mutual Aid Centre, 1977 (now part of the Young Foundation) * Commuter Study Clubs, 1980 *

, 1981 *

, 1982 * Tawney Society, 1982–88 * College of Health, 1983 * Association for the Social Study of Time, 1983 * Argo Venture, 1984–95 * Healthline, 1986 * Open College of the Arts, 1987 (chairman 1987–91) * Centre for Electoral Choice, 1987 * Centre for Educational Choice, 1988 * LinkAge, 1988–95 * Samizdat, 1988–90 * Open School, 1989 * Language Line, 1990 * A Secondary Education Curriculum for Adults (ASECA), 1991 p35 * Adult Basic Education Programme (ABEP), 1991 * South African Institute of Distance Education (SAIDE), 1991 * Education Extra, 1992 * National Association for the Education of Sick Children, 1993 * Tower Hamlets Independent News Service (THINK), 1993–94 * National Funerals College, 1994 * Family Covenant Association, 1994 * The School for Social Entrepreneurs, 1997 * Phoenix Education Trust, 2001

Early life and education

Social research and community activism

Organisational activity

Later political career

Personal life

Bibliography

List of institutions established with the involvement of Michael Young

Notes

References

Further reading

External links