《Giddens and Politics Beyond the Third Way》是2016年Palgrave Macmillan出版的圖書，作者是Peter Kolarz。
基本介紹
- 中文名：Giddens and Politics Beyond the Third Way
- 作者：Peter Kolarz
- 出版社：Palgrave Macmillan
- ISBN：9781137524737
內容簡介,作者簡介,
內容簡介
Summary of Chapters
Introduction
An integrated reading of Anthony Giddens to assess the normative political dimensions across the main clusters of his work is a task that has so far not been undertaken. Yet, it is a promising one, as it high- lights a wealth of meta-theoretical and substantive points that make Giddens relevant to political debates, programmes and scholarship of the present day.
Chapter 1
Giddens’ structuration theory contains a normative emphasis on empowerment and transformative agency which, when combined with his views on critical theory and his critique of historical materialism, gives us a pragmatic and agent-centred approach to critical social theory: utopian realism.
Chapter 2
Giddens’ analysis of late modernity does not stand up well to empirical scrutiny when read as a descriptive account of the present age. However, read as a utopian realist analysis it has more promise. Fostering a reflex- ive, empowered self thereby becomes a normative goal rooted in the possibilities of late modernity, but requiring systematic political action.
Chapter 3
Emancipatory politics denote the aim to foster the late modern self, whilst life politics denote addressing the issues around life choice that the late modern self encounters. The relationship between the two is of a dialectical kind, leading to a political paradigm that coordinates and anticipates these connections.
Chapter 4
Despite the promising opportunities contained in the notion of global- ization, Giddens’ work contains often overlooked cautionary and critical points, especially about global poverty, inequality and economic dom- ination; these pitfalls risk undermining the possibilities brought about through the individual’s global connectedness and imply the need for a transformation of global capitalism.
Chapter 5
The Third Way is not a successful completion of Giddens’ utopian realist analysis of late modernity. It views capitalism as an un-transformable structural feature of the present age and critically underestimates the political effort necessary to enable a wider emergence of the late modern self. The assumed singularity of Third Way politics in the supposed wake of old-style social democracy and 1980s neoliberalism is a key reason behind this, diluting any sense of political opposition.
Chapter 6
Giddens’ work gives scope for the design of programmatic approaches to transform global capitalism and augment the role of redistribution and public services. Seeking greater scope for individuals’ reflexive action and empowerment gives such efforts a normative direction suited to the late modern age. An integrative approach to policymaking is a central component of Giddens’ continuing political utility.
作者簡介
Peter Kolarz
Technopolis Group & University of Sussex, UK
