The Dialectics of Inquiry Across the Historical Social Sciences

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317975022
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dialectics of Inquiry Across the Historical Social Sciences by : David Baronov

Download or read book The Dialectics of Inquiry Across the Historical Social Sciences written by David Baronov and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book turns conventional global-historical analysis on its head, demonstrating, first, that local events cannot be derived — logically or historically — from large-scale, global-historical structures and processes and, second, that it is these structures and processes that, in fact, emerge from our analysis of local events. This is made evident via an analysis of three disparate events: the New York City Draft Riots, AIDS in Mozambique, and a 2007 flood in central Uruguay. In each case, Baronov chronicles how expressions of human agency at the level of those caught up in each event give form and substance to various abstract global-historical concepts — such as slavery in the Americas, global capitalist production, and colonial/postcolonial Africa. Underlying this repositioning of the local and the ephemeral is an immanent, phenomenological analysis that illustrates how mere transient events are the progenitors of otherwise abstract, global-historical concepts. Traversing the intersections of human agency and structural determinism, Baronov deftly retains the nuance and serendipity of everyday life, while deploying this nuance and serendipity to further embellish our understanding of those enduring global-historical structures and processes that shape large-scale, long-term, historical accounts of social and cultural change across the historical social sciences.

The Dialectics of Inquiry Across the Historical Social Sciences

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317975014
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dialectics of Inquiry Across the Historical Social Sciences by : David Baronov

Download or read book The Dialectics of Inquiry Across the Historical Social Sciences written by David Baronov and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book turns conventional global-historical analysis on its head, demonstrating, first, that local events cannot be derived — logically or historically — from large-scale, global-historical structures and processes and, second, that it is these structures and processes that, in fact, emerge from our analysis of local events. This is made evident via an analysis of three disparate events: the New York City Draft Riots, AIDS in Mozambique, and a 2007 flood in central Uruguay. In each case, Baronov chronicles how expressions of human agency at the level of those caught up in each event give form and substance to various abstract global-historical concepts — such as slavery in the Americas, global capitalist production, and colonial/postcolonial Africa. Underlying this repositioning of the local and the ephemeral is an immanent, phenomenological analysis that illustrates how mere transient events are the progenitors of otherwise abstract, global-historical concepts. Traversing the intersections of human agency and structural determinism, Baronov deftly retains the nuance and serendipity of everyday life, while deploying this nuance and serendipity to further embellish our understanding of those enduring global-historical structures and processes that shape large-scale, long-term, historical accounts of social and cultural change across the historical social sciences.

John Rawls and the History of Political Thought

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317815548
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (178 download)

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Book Synopsis John Rawls and the History of Political Thought by : Jeffrey Bercuson

Download or read book John Rawls and the History of Political Thought written by Jeffrey Bercuson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-05-16 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Jeffrey Bercuson presents the immense, and yet for the most part unrecognized, influences of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel on John Rawls, the most important political philosopher of the 20th century. While the well-documented influence of Immanuel Kant on Rawls is deep and profound, Kantian features and interpretation of justice as fairness do not tell the whole story about that doctrine. Drawing on Rawls’s Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy and his Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, Bercuson presents the reader with a more nuanced, accurate account of the moral and political philosophy of Rawls in light of these under-appreciated influences. This new, richer image of Rawls’s political philosophy shows that Rawls’s notion of reasonableness – his notion of the kind and extent of our obligations to those fellows with whom we are engaged in social cooperation – is conspicuously more demanding, and therefore more attractive, than most interpreters and critics assume. Rawls turns to Rousseau and to Hegel, both of whom provide attractive images of engaged citizenship worthy of emulation. Written accessibly, and contributing to key contemporary debates of global justice, this book will be read by scholars within the fields of social and political theory, ethics, and philosophy.

The History of Compulsory Voting in Europe

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317693345
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis The History of Compulsory Voting in Europe by : Anthoula Malkopoulou

Download or read book The History of Compulsory Voting in Europe written by Anthoula Malkopoulou and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is voting out of fashion? Does it matter if voters don't show up at the polls? If yes, is legal enforcement of voting compatible with democracy? These are just a few of the questions linked to the thorny problem of electoral abstention. This book addresses the hot question whether there is a duty to vote and if this is enforceable in the form of compulsory voting. Divided into two parts, Anthoula Malkopoulou begins by expertly presenting the importance of compulsory voting today, situating the debate within the contemporary discussion on liberty, equality and democracy. Then, she questions the historical origins of the idea in Europe. In particular, she examines parliamentary discussions and other primary sources from France and Greece, including a few additional insights from other countries like Switzerland and Belgium. Focusing especially on the years between 1870 and 1930, the reader learns about the historical actors of the debates, their efforts to legitimate punishment of abstention through normative arguments, but also their strategic motivations and political interests. While discussions at the beginning of the century focus on introducing compulsory voting, Malkopoulou criticizes its misuse after the Second World War, exposing the contingency of relevant normative claims today and the conditionality of compulsory voting. From ancient times until today, you learn about the ideological debates, their political context and how the problems of equal representation and democratic moderation persist through the ages.

Emotions and Social Change

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135006350
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Emotions and Social Change by : David Lemmings

Download or read book Emotions and Social Change written by David Lemmings and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection takes a critical perspective on Norbert Elias’s theory of the "civilizing process," through historical essays and contemporary analysis from sociologists and cultural theorists. It focuses on changes in emotional regimes or styles and considers the intersection of emotions and social change, historically and contemporaneously. The book is set in the context of increasing interest among humanities and social science scholars in reconsidering the significance of emotion and affect in society, and the development of empirical research and theorizing around these subjects. Some have labeled this interest as an "affective turn" or a "turn to affect," which suggests a profound and wide-ranging reshaping of disciplines. Building upon complex theoretical models of emotions and social change, the chapters exemplify this shift in analysis of emotions and affect, and suggest different approaches to investigation which may help to shape the direction of sociological and historical thinking and research.

What Holism Can Do for Social Theory

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317801237
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (178 download)

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Book Synopsis What Holism Can Do for Social Theory by : Barbara Hanson

Download or read book What Holism Can Do for Social Theory written by Barbara Hanson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-27 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reconsiders the nature of positivist philosophy in social science theory based on classical and medieval thought in what later became "Europe." It argues that social theory is being held back by antagonistic debates over science, positivism, objectivity, and universal law - debates which appear unnecessary, narrow, and acontextual when their origins are examined. Positing that solutions to these impasses can be found by moving to alternative holistic epistemology, and looking at issues in terms of interrelations rather than parts, the book shows the promise of a social theory that provides a unit of analysis that mediates between local and global relations.

Distributive Justice Debates in Political and Social Thought

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317570561
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Distributive Justice Debates in Political and Social Thought by : Camilla Boisen

Download or read book Distributive Justice Debates in Political and Social Thought written by Camilla Boisen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-23 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who has what and why in our societies is a pressing issue that has prompted explanation and exposition by philosophers, politicians and jurists for as long as societies and intellectuals have existed. It is a primary issue for a society to tackle this and these answers have been diverse. This collection of essays approaches some of these questions and answers to shed light on neglected approaches to issues of distribution and how these issues have been dealt with historically, socially, conceptually, and practically. The volume moves away from the more dominating and traditionally cast understandings of distributive justice and shows novel and unique ways to approach distributive issues and how these can help enlighten our course of action and thought today by creating new pathways of understanding. The editors and contributors challenge readers by exploring the role and importance of restorative justice within distributive justice, exploring the long shadow of practices of trusteeship, and concepts of social and individual rights and obligations in welfare and economic systems, social protection/provision schemes, egalitarian practices and post-colonial African political thought. Distributive Justice Debates in Political and Social Thought empowers the reader to cast a more critical and historically complete light on the idea of a fair share and the implications it has on societies and the individuals who comprise them.

The Sociology of Knowledge in a Time of Crisis

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317962508
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

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Book Synopsis The Sociology of Knowledge in a Time of Crisis by : Onofrio Romano

Download or read book The Sociology of Knowledge in a Time of Crisis written by Onofrio Romano and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-27 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The speed of social dynamics has overtaken the speed of thought. Adopting a dialectical perspective towards reality, social theory has always detected faults in the dominant social pattern, foreseeing crises and outlining in advance the features of new social models. Thought has always moved faster than reality and its ruling models, ensuring a dynamic equilibrium during modernity. Despite any dramatic social crisis, theory has always provided exit routes. The tragedy of current crisis lies in the fact that its social implications are exasperated by the absence of alternative views. This book identifies the causes of this mismatch between thought and reality, and illustrates a way out.

Innovation Contested

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317928199
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

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Book Synopsis Innovation Contested by : Benoît Godin

Download or read book Innovation Contested written by Benoît Godin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-01-09 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovation is everywhere. In the world of goods (technology), but also in the world of words: innovation is discussed in the scientific and technical literature, but also in the social sciences and humanities. Innovation is also a central idea in the popular imaginary, in the media and in public policy. Innovation has become the emblem of the modern society and a panacea for resolving many problems. Today, innovation is spontaneously understood as technological innovation because of its contribution to economic "progress". Yet for 2,500 years, innovation had nothing to do with economics in a positive sense. Innovation was pejorative and political. It was a contested idea in philosophy, religion, politics and social affairs. Innovation only got de-contested in the last century. This occurred gradually beginning after the French revolution. Innovation shifted from a vice to a virtue. Innovation became an instrument for achieving political and social goals. In this book, Benoît Godin lucidly examines the representations and meaning(s) of innovation over time, its diverse uses, and the contexts in which the concept emerged and changed. This history is organized around three periods or episteme: the prohibition episteme, the instrument episteme, and the value episteme.

Deconstructing Happiness

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317565460
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Deconstructing Happiness by : Jordan McKenzie

Download or read book Deconstructing Happiness written by Jordan McKenzie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an original account of the good life in late modernity through a uniquely sociological lens. It considers the various ways that social and cultural factors can encourage or impede genuine efforts to live a good life by deconstructing the concepts of happiness and contentment within cultural narratives of the good life. While empirical studies have dominated the discourse on happiness in recent decades, the emphasis on finding causal and correlational relationships has led to a field of research that arguably lacks a reliable theoretical foundation. Deconstructing Happiness offers a step toward developing that foundation by offering characteristically sociological perspectives on the contemporary fascination with happiness and well-being. In doing so, it seeks to understand the good life as a socially mediated experience rather than a purely personal or individually defined way of living. The outcome is a book on happiness, contentment and the good life that considers the influence of democracy, capitalism and progress, while also focusing on the more theoretical challenges of self-knowledge, reason and interaction.

Marxism, Religion and Ideology

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317531485
Total Pages : 174 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Marxism, Religion and Ideology by : David Bates

Download or read book Marxism, Religion and Ideology written by David Bates and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As austerity measures are put into place the world over and global restructuring is acknowledged by all as an attempt to bolster the economic system that lead to the crash, there is a great need to come to grips with the economic, political and philosophical legacy of Marx. Of particular interest are Marx’s analyses of alienation and the cycles of boom and bust thought to be integral to the functioning of capitalism. Moreover, as the Cold War drifts into the history books, it is possible to reconsider the lasting impact of Marx’s analyses without the shadows cast by the Soviet version of communism. Equally, though, scholars are increasingly turning to Marx for insight into the rise of religion and the corresponding demise of political ideologies that seems to mark the contemporary age. Are we witnessing ‘the return of Marx’? Few scholars have done as much to tease out the intricacies of Marx, ideology and religion and their overlapping concerns as the eminent writer and Marx biographer, Professor David McLellan. This book brings together a group of internationally renowned academics to reflect upon, develop and criticise McLellan’s analyses of these three themes with a view to contributing more broadly to scholarly debates in these fields. This exciting and timely analysis will be of interest to scholars of political theory, the history of political thought (including historical methodology), Marx and Marxism, sociology of knowledge (particularly in relation to discussions of ideology), religion and theology more widely.

Phenomenology of Youth Cultures and Globalization

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317961749
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

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Book Synopsis Phenomenology of Youth Cultures and Globalization by : Stuart R. Poyntz

Download or read book Phenomenology of Youth Cultures and Globalization written by Stuart R. Poyntz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-11 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection brings together scholars who draw on phenomenological approaches to understand the experiences of young people growing up under contemporary conditions of globalization. Phenomenology is both a philosophical and pragmatic approach to social sciences research, that takes as central the meaning-making experiences of research participants. One of the central contentions of this book is that phenomenology has long informed critical empirical approaches to youth cultures, yet until recently its role has not been thusly named. This volume aims to resuscitate and recuperate phenomenology as a robust empirical, theoretical, and methodological approach to youth cultures. Chapters explore the lifeworlds of young people from countries around the world, revealing the tensions, risks and opportunities that organize youth experiences.

The World-System as Unit of Analysis

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351589024
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (515 download)

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Book Synopsis The World-System as Unit of Analysis by : Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz

Download or read book The World-System as Unit of Analysis written by Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-22 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World-system analyses have recast the study of between- and within-nation country inequality as constituent aspects of a single field of inquiry: the study of inequality and social stratification as processes that always have been global in their very essence. World-system analyses maintain that global social stratification pivots around institutional arrangements that render distributional outcomes as simultaneously “national,” “gendered,” “racialized,” and “global” processes. This book takes stock of some of the enduring theoretical and empirical contributions of a world-system perspective, and identifies promising directions for future inquiry and discussion. Some chapters reassess the scope and methodologies of world-system analysis around several key problems (e.g., the spatial and temporal boundaries of global commodity chains, the construction and challenge of various dimensions of social inequality, systemic and antisystemic social movements). Others take stock of areas in which world-systems are promoting methodological innovation and/or generating useful global data, and identify questions that demand additional methodological and empirical attention for future research. In different ways, this book help us to critically reconsider some of the enduring legacies within a world-system perspective (such as Karl Polanyi’s concept of the “double movement,” or the distinction drawn by Giovanni Arrighi or Immanuel Wallerstein between systemic and antisystemic movements). As argued by many of the authors in this book, a world-historical approach calls for greater sensitivity to the manifold ways in which conceptual boundaries change over time and space. Taking seriously the issue of unit of analysis, this book explores critically productive ways for better understanding global patterns of continuity and change.

The Politics of Rationality

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134490372
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (344 download)

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Book Synopsis The Politics of Rationality by : Charles Webel

Download or read book The Politics of Rationality written by Charles Webel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-04 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are reason and rationality? How significant are recent postmodernist and neuroscientific challenges to these longheld notions? Should we abandon a belief in reason and an adherence to rationality? Or can reason and rationality be reformulated and reframed? And what does politics have to do with how we think about reason and why we act more or less rationally? The Politics of Rationality differs from other books with "reason" or “rationality” due to its historical, political, depth-psychological, and multidisciplinary approach to understanding reason through history. Charles P. Webel eloquently clarifies the links among ideas, their creators, the relevant mental processes, and the political cultures within which such important concepts as reasons and rationality take hold. He demonstrates how reason and rationality/irrationality have become what they mean for us today and proposes a way to rethink reason and rationality in light of the withering critiques leveled against them. In doing so, he presents a "history of reason and rationality" by examining the intellectual and political contexts of four representative theorists of reason and rationality-- Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, and Weber—and by addressing contemporary challenges posed by postmodernism, depth psychology, and neurophilosophy.

Rosa Luxemburg in Action

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131769337X
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis Rosa Luxemburg in Action by : Rosemary H. T. O'Kane

Download or read book Rosa Luxemburg in Action written by Rosemary H. T. O'Kane and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neither a work concerned only with her Marxist writings nor a personal biography concerned with her private life, this book examines Rosa Luxemburg’s ideas on revolution and democracy and how the two are bound together by her views on the importance of political action. Stretching, historically, from 1863 to the present, this book covers in great detail the history and developments within the German SPD during her time, the 1905 and 1917 Russian Revolutions, the German Revolution, the outbreak of World War I and the imperialism that fuelled it. It then moves on to consider political and historical developments after her death and examines her arguments on revolution and democracy in the light of the post-revolutionary government in Nicaragua: the one violent revolution that sought to establish social democracy (but failed). Also covered are aspects of Rosa Luxemburg’s life, her important writings and actions, the relevant Marxist debates in which she was involved, including, for example Bernstein’s arguments on social democracy through reform and, with Lenin, on revolutionary organization. A welcomed and timely collection presenting an important examination of the political and social context in which Luxemburg developed her activities and views and a complete understanding of the history of social democracy, the revolutionary times of a century ago and the relevance of their events and ideas for more recent revolutions for democracy in the twenty-first century.

Political Thought of Hume and his Contemporaries

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131757379X
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Political Thought of Hume and his Contemporaries by : Frederick G. Whelan

Download or read book Political Thought of Hume and his Contemporaries written by Frederick G. Whelan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intended for scholars in the fields of political theory, and the history of political thought, this two-volume examines David Hume's Political Thought (1711-1776) and that of his contemporaries, including Smith, Blackstone, Burke and Robertson. This book is unified by its temporal focus on the middle and later decades of the eighteenth century and hence on what is usually taken to be the core period of the Enlightenment, a somewhat problematic term. Covering topics such as property, contract and resistance theory, religious establishments, the law of nations, the balance of power, demography, and the role of unintended consequences in social life, Frederick G. Whelan convincingly conveys the diversity--and creativity--of the intellectual engagements of even a limited set of Enlightenment thinkers in contrast to dismissive attitudes, in some quarters, toward the Enlightenment and its supposed unitary project. Political Thought of Hume and his Contemporaries: Enlightenment Projects Vol. 2 contains six in-depth studies of eighteenth-century political thought, including both normative issues and examples of Enlightenment social science, including international relations and law, the problem of double standards, political economy, demography, and the causes of imperial decline. The central figure is David Hume, with substantial attention to William Robertson, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Malthus, and others.

Authenticity, Autonomy and Multiculturalism

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317535928
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Authenticity, Autonomy and Multiculturalism by : Geoffrey Brahm Levey

Download or read book Authenticity, Autonomy and Multiculturalism written by Geoffrey Brahm Levey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of "authenticity" enters multicultural politics in three distinct but interrelated senses: as an ideal of individual and group identity that commands recognition by others; as a condition of individuals’ autonomy that bestows legitimacy on their values, beliefs and preferences as being their own; and as a form of cultural pedigree that bestows legitimacy on particular beliefs and practices (commonly called "cultural authenticity"). In each case, the authenticity idea is called on to anchor or legitimate claims to some kind of public recognition. The considerable work asked of this concept raises a number of vital questions: Should "authenticity" be accorded the importance it holds in multicultural politics? Do its pitfalls outweigh its utility? Is the notion of "authenticity" avoidable in making sense of and evaluating cultural claims? Or does it, perhaps, need to be rethought or recalibrated? Geoffrey Brahm Levey and his distinguished group of philosophers, political theorists, and anthropologists challenge conventional assumptions about "authenticity" that inform liberal responses to minority cultural claims in Western democracies today. Discussing a wide range of cases drawn from Britain and continental Europe, North America, Australia and the Middle East, they press beyond theories to consider also the practical and policy implications at stake. A helpful resource to scholars worldwide in Political and Social Theory, Political Philosophy, Legal Anthropology, Multiculturalism, and, more generally, of cultural identity and diversity in liberal democracies today.