what you get here

This is not a blog which opines on current events. It rather uses incidents, books (old and new), links and papers to muse about our social endeavours.
So old posts are as good as new! And lots of useful links!

The Bucegi mountains - the range I see from the front balcony of my mountain house - are almost 120 kms from Bucharest and cannot normally be seen from the capital but some extraordinary weather conditions allowed this pic to be taken from the top of the Intercontinental Hotel in late Feb 2020

Monday, July 12, 2021

The Argument so far – part IV

 The last post indicated the reading I hope to do to stimulate the grey cells as I try to draft the concluding chapter of my little book about our current malaise. It made the important point that, before we start even flicking a book, we need to have some questions in mind. This will help us quickly identify where (if at all) the text actually tries to develop answers…..   

I confessed that I don’t find it easy to articulate such questions – and, typically, I found my exercise producing a list of statements viz  

·       Western liberal capitalism has legitimacy as long as its political and economic systems work

·       The economic system (capitalism) has always had its critics – but the global financial crash of 2008; climate change; and Artificial Intelligence have made the case for radical change unassailable

·       For the second half of the 20th century, the political system (democracy) seemed free from such challenges - but has recently come under fire for its failure to make its citizens feel that it represents any more their interests

·       Political parties have indeed surrendered almost all of their functions – which I once described as representation, manifesto implementation, extension of public insight and protection – and are left only with the selection of elites.

·       Most of the terms used in discussions – such as neoliberalism, inequality, populism, identity – are useless slogans which don’t contribute to anyone’s understanding of what’s at stake

·       The present situation suits “Individualists” down to the ground

·       It was 1979 when Christopher Lasch produced his “Culture of Narcissism” which anticipated the present focus on self

·       “Egalitarians” are at a loss – having lost their capacity to believe in solidarity and the engines of union pressure and of social democracy

·       The rest of us are utterly confused

·       The structure of power is basically out of balance – as Henry Mintzberg’s Rebalancing  Society – radical renewal beyond left, right and center so clearly sets out

·       But argument alone will not bring down the walls of privilege

·       The lesson of history is that force (or its threat) is needed to effect social change

·       Although history also tells us that it has to be non-violent

·       Where do we find and harness such force?    

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