Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want

In her book "Viral Justice," Ruha Benjamin explores how small individual actions can have a viral impact on society and lead to positive change. She draws on personal experiences and the experiences of her family to show how seemingly minor decisions and habits can spread and have a significant positive effect. Benjamin offers a passionate and inspiring vision of how small changes can add up to large ones, transforming relationships and communities and helping us build a more just and joyful world.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 392 pages
Publication date: 06 February 2024
Publisher: Princeton University Press

From the author of the groundbreaking book "Race After Technology," comes an inspiring vision of how we can build a more just world—one small change at a time. "A true gift to our movements for justice," Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow," praises this work.

Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was conducting groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. However, the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions.

"Viral Justice" is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day. Part memoir, part manifesto, this book is a testament to Benjamin's unwavering commitment to social justice.

Vividly recounting her personal experiences and those of her family, Benjamin shows how seemingly minor decisions and habits could spread virally and have exponentially positive effects. She recounts her father's premature death, illuminating the devastating impact of the chronic stress of racism, but she also introduces us to community organizers who are fostering mutual aid and collective healing. Through her brother's experience with the criminal justice system, we see the trauma caused by policing practices and mass imprisonment, but we also witness family members finding strength as they come together to demand justice for their loved ones. And while her own challenges as a young mother reveal the vast inequities of our healthcare system, Benjamin also describes how the support of doulas and midwives can keep Black mothers and babies alive and well.

"Viral Justice" was born of a stubborn hopefulness, offering a passionate, inspiring, and practical vision of how small changes can add up to large ones, transforming our relationships and communities and helping us build a more just and joyful world.

This book is a must-read for anyone who believes in the power of individual action and the potential for social change. It is a testament to the resilience and determination of the human spirit, and a reminder that we all have the power to make a difference in the world.

Weight: 406g
Dimension: 140 x 216 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691224930