After Progress: American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century - LRBP

Birnbaum, Norman

ISBN 10: 0195120051 / ISBN 13: 9780195120059

Published by Oxford University Press, New York, 2001

About this Item

Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. First edition, first impression hardcover book in Very Good plus condition; light shelf wear to the head of the spine, a little more to the heel; book is clean and square. Dust jacket in Very Good condition; light shelf wear around the edges and corners; mild rubbing and scuffing to the broad panel areas; no rips or tears; not price clipped. 21060025, 1 lb 12 oz, Col-23.

Seller Inventory # 001261

Bibliographic Details

• Title: After Progress: American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century - LRBP
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195120051
• ISBN 13: 9780195120059
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Modern First Editions

About this title

Synopsis

The twentieth century witnessed a profound shift in both socialism and social reform. In the early 1900s, social reform seemed to offer a veritable religion of redemption, but by the century's end, while socialism remained a vibrant force in European society, a culture of extreme individualism and consumption all but squeezed the welfare state out of existence. Documenting this historic change, After Progress: European Socialism and American Social Reform in the 20th Century is the first truly comprehensive look at the course of social reform and Western politics after Communism, brilliantly explained by a major social thinker of our time.
Norman Birnbaum traces in fascinating detail the forces that have shifted social concern over the course of a century, from the devastation of two world wars, to the post-war golden age of economic growth and democracy, to the ever-increasing dominance of the market. He makes sense of the historical trends that have created a climate in which politicians proclaim the arrival of a new historical epoch but rarely offer solutions to social problems that get beyond cost-benefit analyses. Birnbaum goes one step further and proposes a strategy for bringing the market back into balance with the social needs of the people. He advocates a reconsideration of the notion of work, urges that market forces be brought under political control, and stresses the need for education that teaches the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
Both a sweeping historical survey and a sharp-edged commentary on current political posturing, After Progress examines the state of social reform past, present and future.

About the Author

Norman Birnbaum is University Professor at Georgetown University Law School and the author of The Crisis of Industrial Society and Toward a Critical Sociology (both from OUP). A founding editor of New Left Review, he has served on the board of Partisan Review and The Nation . He lives in Washington, D.C.