Download or read book Democracy Without Decency written by William M. Epstein and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-10-20 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The conservative attacks on the welfare system in the United States over the past several decades have put liberal defenders of poverty relief and social insurance programs on the defensive. In this no-holds-barred look at the reality of American social policy since World War II, William Epstein argues that this defense is not worth mounting—that the claimed successes of American social programs are not sustained by evidence. Rather than their failure being the result of inadequate implementation or political resistance stemming from the culture wars, these programs and their built-in limitations actually do represent what the vast majority of people in this country want them to be. However much people may speak in favor of welfare, the proof of what they really want is in the pudding of the social policies that are actually legislated. The stinginess of America’s welfare system is the product of basic American values rooted in the myth of “heroic individualism” and reinforced by a commitment to social efficiency, the idea that social services need to be minimal and compatible with current social arrangements.
Download or read book Not for Profit written by Martha C. Nussbaum and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education. Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry in the United States and abroad. We increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to teach students to be economically productive rather than to think critically and become knowledgeable, productive, and empathetic individuals. This shortsighted focus on profitable skills has eroded our ability to criticize authority, reduced our sympathy with the marginalized and different, and damaged our competence to deal with complex global problems. And the loss of these basic capacities jeopardizes the health of democracies and the hope of a decent world. In response to this dire situation, Nussbaum argues that we must resist efforts to reduce education to a tool of the gross national product. Rather, we must work to reconnect education to the humanities in order to give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens of their countries and the world. In a new preface, Nussbaum explores the current state of humanistic education globally and shows why the crisis of the humanities has far from abated. Translated into over twenty languages, Not for Profit draws on the stories of troubling—and hopeful—global educational developments. Nussbaum offers a manifesto that should be a rallying cry for anyone who cares about the deepest purposes of education.
Download or read book Democracy and Decency written by Paul R. Carr and published by IAP. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracy can mean a range of concepts, covering everything from freedoms, rights, elections, governments, processes, philosophies and a panoply of abstract and concrete notions that can be mediated by power, positionality, culture, time and space. Democracy can also be translated into brute force, hegemony, docility, compliance and conformity, as in wars will be decided on the basis of the needs of elites, or major decisions about spending finite resources will be the domain of the few over the masses, or people will be divided along the lines of race, ethnicity, class, religion, etc. because it is advantageous for maintaining exploitative political systems in place to do so. Often, these frameworks are developed and reified based on the notion that elections give the right to societies, or segments of societies, to install regimes, institutions and operating systems that are then supposedly legitimated and rendered infinitely just because formal power resides in the hands of those dominating forces. This book is interested in advancing a critical analysis of the hegemonic paradigm described above, one that seeks higher levels of political literacy and consciousness, and one that makes the connection with education. What does education have to do with democracy? How does education shape, influence, impinge on, impact, negate, facilitate and/or change the context, contours and realities of democracy? How can we teach for and about democracy to alter and transform the essence of what democracy is, and, importantly, what it should be? This book advances the notion of decency in relation to democracy, and is underpinned by an analysis of meaningful, critically-engaged education. Is it enough to be kind, nice, generous and hopeful when we can also see signs of rampant, entrenched and debilitating racism, sexism, poverty, violence, injustice, war and other social inequalities? If democracy is intended to be a legitimating force for good, how does education inform democracy? What types of knowledge, experience, analysis and being are helpful to bring about newer, more meaningful and socially just forms of democracy? Throughout some twenty chapters from a range of international scholars, this book includes three sections: Constructing Meanings for Democracy and Decency; Justice for All as Praxis; and Social Justice in Action for Democracy, Decency, and Diversity: International Perspectives. The underlying thread that is interwoven through the texts is a critical reappraisal of normative, hegemonic interpretations of how power is infused into the educational realm, and, importantly, how democracy can be re-situated and re-formulated so as to more meaningfully engage society and education.
Download or read book Decency and Difference written by Steven C Roach and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2019-11-22 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decency remains one of the most prevalent yet least understood terms in today’s political discourse. In evoking respect, kindness, courage, integrity, reason, and tolerance, it has long expressed an unquestioned duty and belief in promoting and protecting the dignity of all persons. Today this unquestioned belief is in crisis. Tribalism and identity politics have both hindered and threatened its moral stability and efficacy. Still, many continue to undertheorize its political character by isolating it from the effects of identity politics. Decency and Difference argues that decency is a primary source of the political tension that has long shaped the struggles for power, identity, and justice in the global arena. It distinguishes among basic, conservative, and liberal strands of decency to critically examine the many conflicting and competing applications of decency in global politics. Together these different strands reflect a long and uneven evolution from the British and American empires to a global network of justice. This powerful book exposes the gaps of decency and the disparate ways it is practiced, thus addressing the global challenge of configuring a diverse political ethic of decency.
Download or read book Social Media and Democracy written by Nathaniel Persily and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-03 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.
Download or read book A National Party No More written by Zell Miller and published by Stroud & Hall Pub. This book was released on 2003 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Democratic senator discusses issues and values he recommends the Democratic Party must embrace to make the party relevant for the American people.
Download or read book Democracy and Education written by John Dewey and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1916 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: . Renewal of Life by Transmission. The most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged. Otherwise, it is shattered into smaller bits. Never does the stone attempt to react in such a way that it may maintain itself against the blow, much less so as to render the blow a contributing factor to its own continued action. While the living thing may easily be crushed by superior force, it none the less tries to turn the energies which act upon it into means of its own further existence. If it cannot do so, it does not just split into smaller pieces (at least in the higher forms of life), but loses its identity as a living thing. As long as it endures, it struggles to use surrounding energies in its own behalf. It uses light, air, moisture, and the material of soil. To say that it uses them is to say that it turns them into means of its own conservation. As long as it is growing, the energy it expends in thus turning the environment to account is more than compensated for by the return it gets: it grows. Understanding the word "control" in this sense, it may be said that a living being is one that subjugates and controls for its own continued activity the energies that would otherwise use it up. Life is a self-renewing process through action upon the environment.
Download or read book The Dilemma of American Social Welfare written by William M. Epstein and published by Transaction Pub. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the current political climate of the U.S., there are noeasily apparent solutions to the social problems we face.William M. Epstein claims that people in need have been poorly served and misled by the American system of social welfare. This is one of those rare works emanating from a social welfare expert that does not offer easy placebos or simplistic claims based on more money. The Dilemma of American Social Welfare argues against the idea that there are inexpensive cures for serious societal sicknesses. Epstein takes on an immense literature in psychotherapy, social work, and welfare, all offering simple answers to complex problems. Two of the largest social experiments ever undertaken in the U.S. are evaluated in depth. The Negative Income Tax experiments of the 1960s and early 1970s tested the feasibility of an income guarantee; and the Evaluation of State Work/Welfare Initiatives employed a variety of programs to stimulate welfare recipients to find jobs. Epstein also analyzes social services associated with social work and examines approaches to juvenile delinquency and drug addiction. Epstein is blunt in his denial that traditional welfare can readily resolve major social and economic questions of the times. His work, addressed to the malaise in thesocial welfare or helping professions, should serve asan early warning signal that easy solutions are hard for recipients to identify and harder still for donors to put forth. Although it was originally published in the early 1990s, the book remains relevant to political and social questions of the day, which makes it of interest to sociologists, political scientists, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in policy and urban studies.
Download or read book Pedagogy of Freedom written by Paulo Freire and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2000-12-13 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book displays the striking creativity and profound insight that characterized Freire's work to the very end of his life-an uplifting and provocative exploration not only for educators, but also for all that learn and live.
Download or read book The Myth of Digital Democracy written by Matthew Hindman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Matthew Hindman reveals here that, contrary to popular belief, the Internet has done little to broaden political discourse in the United States, but rather that it empowers a small set of elites - some new, but most familiar.
Download or read book Pandora s Dilemma written by David Stoesz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pandora's Dilemma presents theories of social welfare, addressing stakeholders, the policy process, electoral politics, child welfare, the precariat, online education, the devolution of the welfare state, and the evolution of the investment state.
Download or read book Democracy Against Liberalism written by Aviezer Tucker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It should not surprise anyone that democracies can become dangerously illiberal; indeed, it was one of the classical critiques of ancient democracies. Is the contemporary backlash against liberal democracy merely the same old story, or are we witnessing something unprecedented? In this witty and engaging book, Aviezer Tucker argues that the contemporary revival of authoritarian populism combines the historically familiar with new technologies to produce a highly unstable and contagious new synthesis that threatens basic liberal norms, from freedom of the press to independent judiciaries. He examines how the economic crisis blocked social mobility and thereby awakened the dark, dormant political passions exploited by demagogues such as Orban and Trump. He argues that this slide towards ‘neo-illiberal democracy’ can be countered if we hard-headedly restore a ‘liberalism without nostalgia’ which institutes policies that can dampen down populist passions and strengthen liberal institutional barriers against them. Readers interested in current affairs, social science, history, and political and social theory will find Aviezer Tucker’s original theoretical and historical analysis incisive, innovative, and entertaining.
Download or read book Handbook of Mindfulness written by Ronald E. Purser and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-10-25 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook explores mindfulness philosophy and practice as it functions in today’s socioeconomic, cultural, and political landscape. Chapters discuss the many ways in which classic concepts and practices of mindfulness clash, converge, and influence modern theories and methods, and vice versa. Experts across many disciplines address the secularization and commercialization of Buddhist concepts, the medicalizing of mindfulness in therapies, and progressive uses of mindfulness in education. The book addresses the rise of the, “mindfulness movement”, and the core concerns behind the critiques of the growing popularity of mindfulness. It covers a range of dichotomies, such as traditional versus modern, religious versus secular, and commodification versus critical thought and probes beyond the East/West binary to larger questions of economics, philosophy, ethics, and, ultimately, meaning. Featured topics include: A compilation of Buddhist meditative practices. Selling mindfulness and the marketing of mindful products. A meta-critique of mindfulness critiques - from McMindfulness to critical mindfulness Mindfulness-based interventions in clinical psychology and neuroscience. Corporate mindfulness and usage in the workplace. Community-engaged mindfulness and its role in social justice. The Handbook of Mindfulness is a must-have resource for clinical psychologists, complementary and alternative medicine professionals/practitioners, neuroscientists, and educational and business/management leaders and policymakers as well as related mental health, medical, and educational professionals/practitioners.
Download or read book The Masses are the Ruling Classes written by William M. Epstein and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Masses are the Ruling Classes argues that popular sentiments rule social decision making and that elites are essentially obedient to democratic preferences, and not the other way around. The US is deeply committed to a series of values -- extreme individualism, emotional sources of truth, and a sense of chosenness -- that stunt its social development. These ideas are developed in the context of iconic social welfare programs.
Download or read book The Investment State written by David Stoesz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-25 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historically, the welfare state of the 20th century, which was built on the foundation of an industrial economy, seems poorly adapted to a 21st-century information age. Socially, profound demographic shifts--especially an aging population, increasing numbers of women in the labor force, and surging immigration--pose challenges for traditional programs. Economically, the legacy of social entitlements, which has been addressed through deficit spending, is untenable insofar as they squeeze out essential discretionary programs. Politically, the demise of the Left, signified by Brexit, the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, and less successful populist movements in Europe and Australia, continues a conservative vector in social policy. The confluence of these factors increases the likelihood of reform of a nation's social infrastructure. The Investment State provides a template for future social policy, which can be adapted to cities, states, nations, and international trade agreements. It serves as a sequel to the author's previous book, The Dynamic Welfare State (OUP, 2016)--which included a theory of welfare state decline--by envisioning a new paradigm for social programs.
Download or read book Disordered Minds written by Ian Hughes and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-28 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disordered Minds offers a compelling and timely account of the dangers posed by narcissistic leaders, and provides a stark warning that the conditions in which this psychopathy flourishes - extremes of social inequality and a culture of hyper-individualism - are the hallmarks of our present age. 'An excellent account of how malignant narcissism is evident in the lives of the great dictators, and how the conditions in which this psychopathy flourishes have returned to haunt us.' Dr Kieran Keohane, editor of The Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilization
Download or read book Imposing Decency written by Eileen Findlay and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interrelationship between sexuality and national identity during Puerto Rico's transition from Spanish to U.S. colonialism.
