ABSTRACT
The good enough world is introduced here as the social preconditions necessary for individuals to live autonomously and successfully. The concept is illustrated by way of an extended case study of post-industrial working-class communities in the United Kingdom which shows what can happen to people’s awareness and sense of efficacy when the preconditions of the good enough world are not met sufficiently. Charting the social decline and political disenfranchisement of these communities, the chapter suggests that a good enough world rests on four distinct preconditions named as resourcefulness, responsiveness, truthfulness and integrity. Each of these four concepts is introduced in turn through detailed illustrative examples which demonstrate the insoluble link between individual distress and contextual dysfunction.
