Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Social Design Reader explores the ways in which design can be a catalyst for social change. Bringing together key texts of the last fifty years, editor Elizabeth Resnick traces the emergence of the notion of socially responsible design. This volume represents the authentic voices of the thinkers, writers and designers who are helping to build a 'canon' of informed literature which documents the development of the discipline.

The Social Design Reader is divided into three parts. Section 1: Making a Stand includes an introduction to the term 'social design' and features papers which explore its historical underpinnings. Section 2: Creating the Future documents the emergence of social design as a concept, as a nascent field of study, and subsequently as a rapidly developing professional discipline, and Section 3: A Sea Change is made up of papers acknowledging social design as a firmly established practice.

Contextualising section introductions are provided to aid readers in understanding the original source material, while summary boxes clearly articulate how each text fits with the larger milieu of social design theory, methods, and practice.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgments (p. x)
• List of Illustrations (p. xi)
• Preface (p. xiii)
• Section 1 Making a Stand: A New Social Agenda for Design
• 1 Introduction (p. 3)
• 2 Is Social Design a Thing? (p. 9)
• 3 Social Design: From Utopia to the Good Society (p. 17)
• 4 Émigré Culture and the Origins of Social Design (p. 31)
• Section 2 Creating the Future: Defining the Socially Responsible Designer 1964-99
• 5 Introduction (p. 39)
• 6 First Things First Manifesto (p. 47)
• 7 Here Are Some Things We Must Do (p. 49)
• 8 Edugraphology-The Myths of Design and the Design of Myths (p. 57)
• 9 Design as a Socially Significant Activity (p. 63)
• 10 Designerly Ways of Knowing (p. 73)
• 11 The Future Isn't What It Used to Be (p. 87)
• 12 Commerce or Culture: Industrialization and Design (p. 101)
• 13 Wicked Problems in Design Thinking (p. 117)
• 14 Good Citizenship: Design as a Social and Political Force (p. 137)
• 15 Feminist Perspectives (Design for Society) (p. 145)
• 16 There Is Such a Thing as Society (p. 167)
• 17 Design and Reflexivity (p. 175)
• 18 Design Noir (p. 179)
• Section 3 A Sea Change: The Paradigm Shift from Objects to Systems 2000-20
• 19 Introduction (p. 185)
• 20 First Things First 2000 Manifesto (p. 199)
• 21 A "Social Model" of Design: Issues of Practice and Research (p. 201)
• 22 The Dematerialization of Design (p. 209)
• 23 Why Being "Less Bad" Is No Good (Cradle to Cradle) (p. 217)
• 24 Clothes That Connect (p. 229)
• 25 Design's Role in Sustainable Consumption (p. 241)
• 26 Transformative Services and Transformation Design (p. 257)
• 27 Rethinking Design Thinking: Part I (p. 277)
• 28 Rethinking Design Thinking: Part II (p. 295)
• 29 Design Things and Design Thinking: Contemporary Participatory Design Challenges (p. 311)
• 30 From Design Culture to Design Activism (p. 327)
• 31 Decolonizing Design Innovation: Design Anthropology, Critical Anthropology, and Indigenous Knowledge (p. 345)
• 32 Social Design and Neocolonialism (p. 361)
• 33 Futuristic Gizmos, Conservative Ideals: On Speculative Anachronistic Design (p. 375)
• 34 Privilege and Oppression: Towards a Feminist Speculative Design (p. 381)
• 35 Is Sustainable Innovation an Oxymoron? (p. 393)
• 36 Social Innovation and Design: Enabling, Replicating and Synergizing (p. 403)
• 37 Global Methods, Local Designs (p. 417)
• 38 The Emerging Transition Design Approach (p. 431)
• List of Contributors (p. 455)
• Further Readings (p. 461)
• Index (p. 465)