The empathy instinct : how to create a more civil society / Peter Bazalgette.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-358) and index.

1. Societies without Empathy -- 2. The Science of Empathy -- 3. The Nature and Nurture of Empathy -- 4. The Digital Dystopia -- 5. Crime and Punishment -- 6. In Sickness and in Health -- 7. Race, Religion and Conflict Resolution -- 8. The Art of Empathy -- 9. A Charter for Empathy.

Empathy is the power of understanding others, imaginatively entering into their feelings. It is a fundamental human attribute, without which mutually co-operative societies cannot function. In a revolutionary development, we now know who has it, who lacks it and why. Via the MRI scanner we are mapping the human brain. This is a new frontier that reveals a host of beneficial ideas for childcare, teens challenged by the internet, the justice system, decent healthcare, tackling racism and resolving conflicts. In this wide-ranging and accessible book full of entertaining stories that are underlined by the latest scientific research, Peter Bazalgette also mounts a passionate defence of arts and popular culture as a means of bridging the empathy gap. As the world's population expands, consuming the planet's finite resources, as people haunted by poverty and war are on the move and as digital communications infinitely complicate our social interactions, we find our patience and our sympathy constantly challenged. Here is the antidote. Culminating in a passionate manifesto on empathy, The Empathy Instinct is what makes us human and what can make us better humans.--Publisher.