Life at the Bottom by Theodore Dalrymple

Meeting at our usual place, upstairs at the Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Deveonshire Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, we will be discussing Theodore Dalrymple's book: Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass.

Drawing on his years as an inner-city and prison psychiatrist in Britain, Dalrymple argues that the breakdown of lower-income communities is driven less by material poverty than by a fatalistic, self-defeating worldview - one largely disseminated by progressive intellectual elites.

Dalrymple has written many books and has been a regular contributor to the British Spectator magazine. He writes well and is a joy to read.

We will be focusing mainly on Life at the Bottom, but overlapping with this book (and for those who want an extra reading fix) some of us might also read Troubled by Rob Henderson.

Henderson draws on his own life in Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, to illustrate how affluent cultural norms filter downward to inflict real-world damage on vulnerable communities. Rob Henderson is the American author who came up with the term 'luxury beliefs.' Henderson suggests that many members of socio-economic elites adopt views to signal to others their membership of elite groups, to the detriment of non-elites. Uncontrolled immigration, for example, might sound progressive and cool at elite dinner parties, held in large houses behind gated communities, but can wreak havoc among poor people trying to rent scare housing.

Availability: there are a few books with 'Life at the Bottom' in the title. The full title is Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass. The book is available from the usual places, including two hard copies available through inter-library loan (City of Sydney charges $3.60 for this service).
Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class is available from the usual places, including eleven local libraries, using the inter-library loan service.
Contact Dale for information about soft copies.

The format of the meeting is that someone will give a short presentation, and then we will discuss the arguments of the book and examine counter-arguments. The intention is to play and examine the ideas found in the books, rather than for everyone to agree.

We meet on the top floor of the pub in a semi-private room which can hold 10-15 people. Look for the sign. People are welcome to eat and drink during the meeting. There is no minimum spend. We are a friendly lot and welcome newcomers. Contact Dale at [dalemills@cantab.net](mailto:dalemills@cantab.net) for more details.