Social Progress and the Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-032-26087-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 238 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 340 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Sustainable Development

Social Progress and the Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy examines the authoritarian challenge to present-day democracy through a framing of social progress theory and the idea of the social contract. Building on the author’s previous work, this book discusses whether social progress is linear and on a continual upward trajectory to human betterment, or if there are peaks and troughs along the way. More importantly, it questions that, if social progress exists, is it compatible with social and environmental sustainability?

At the outset the book introduces the concepts of social contract theory and the idea of human social progress, long considered to be settled conditions, now ripe for further examination. Each chapter carefully analyses the contemporary struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, using examples from the USA as a foundation to discuss and compare democracies from around the world encountering the pressures of rising authoritarianism, including anti-immigration, xenophobia and anti-institutionalism. It argues that if the climate crisis is to be urgently addressed as required, the rise in authoritarian thinking, with its focus on maintaining power and the creation of individual wealth, presents a challenge to both our societal foundations and environmental sustainability.

Highlighting and analysing topics of critical importance to today’s society, this book will have widespread appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students throughout the social sciences including sociology, political science, philosophy, environmental sustainability and development studies.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Reid, Donald G

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Ökologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sozialpsychologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften, Biologie: Sachbuch, Naturführer
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Sozialpolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Nationalismus
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Geographie: Sachbuch, Reise
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Konservativismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Liberalismus, Libertarismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Demokratie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Geopolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The Basis of Human Culture 2. The Social Contract: The Beginning of Civilization? 3. Social Progress and Change Throughout Human History 4. The Upward Trajectory of Social Progress 5. The Ideological Struggle 6. Achieving Meaning in Life 7. Reconstructing the Social Contract and the Idea of Social Progress

Über Autor(innen)

Donald G. Reid is University Professor Emeritus in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) at the University of Guelph in Canada. He is an international scholar whose work focuses on sustainable development, social planning, poverty, community development, leisure, and tourism. His previous books are Social Policy and Planning for the 21st Century: In Search of the Next Great Social Transformation (Routledge, 2017) and A New World-System: From Chaos to Sustainability (Routledge, 2020).