Britain's economic stagnation is often blamed for a widespread sense of national crisis. But might the dysfunction of modern British society have a deeper cause?

James Vitali argues that our economic woes are merely symptoms of an underlying ethical disorder. Our shared prosperity rests upon a common set of moral values: responsibility, duty and stewardship. Yet these values have been fatally undermined by both left and right. Their loss amounts to the destruction of Britain's culture of ownership, a malaise which lies behind so many of Britain's biggest challenges, from our crisis in national self-confidence to the overburdened British state. Only by restoring Britain's ethical bedrock – and building the property-owning democracy it requires – can we prosper again.

The Ownership Society articulates a new conservatism that offers Britons an opportunity to take responsibility for themselves, for their communities, and for their loved ones. No one who cares about the future of Britain should miss it.

James Vitali is one of the Sunday Times's 30 Under 30 Leaders. He is a Conservative Councillor in Dorset, a Reservist Officer in the British Army, and the former Head of Political Economy at Policy Exchange.