Beyond the Dependency Culture: People, Power and Responsibility in the 21st Century / Edition 1

by James Robertson

Overview

Communism has collapsed and socialism is discredited. Is this the end of history? No, James Robertson argues, precisely the opposite. 20th century capitalism and socialism propped each other up. Both belonged to the modern industrialized period of human history, when the powerful interest groups of business and state dominated people, and Euro-American culture and power dominated the world. An emerging post-modern worldview foreshadows possibilities for a new path of progress, more deeply concerned for people and nature.

Based on articles and lectures, this collection explores what this new path of progress could mean for politics, work, welfare, health, energy, the life of families and neighborhoods, the world role of today's rich countries, and other aspects of the human predicament today. Important reading for concerned citizens and policymakers alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275963163
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/10/1998
Series:	Praeger Studies on the 21st Century
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

JAMES ROBERTSON was, from 1953 to 1965, a British government policymaker. In 1960, he travelled with British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan on the historic Wind of Change tour in Africa. After three years in management consultancy and systems analysis, he set up and led an inter-bank research organization. Between 1965 and 1973 he took part in various inquiries on the organization of British government and on London's future as a world financial center. Since 1973 he has worked independently as a writer and thinker on alternative futures and economic and social change. His earlier books include The Sane Alternative, Future Work, and Future Wealth (1990).

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Post-Industrial Liberation (1977)
A Post-Marxist Strategy (1978)
The Political Economy of a Conserving Society (1979)
Work (1980)
After the Welfare State (1980)
A New Politics (1984)
Money (1984)
Towards a Post-Modern Worldview (1990)
Health
Devil's Tunes
Beyond Horseshit Economics
Monetary Democracy for Europe (1992)
After Keynes and Thatcher: What Now? An Open Letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1993)
What's Wrong with Nuclear Power? (1993)
Social Investment (1995)
A New Social Compact (1996)
Epilogue (1997)
Index

Editorial Reviews

Collects 16 lectures and essays from the period 1977-96, four of which are previously unpublished. The works reflect the author's position that what is needed is a path of progress based on cooperative self- reliance, rather than the further growth of dependence. He explains the implications of this kind of progress for politics, energy and resources, work, welfare, monetary systems, health, and national and local policy in the industrialized countries of Great Britain, Europe, and North America. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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