CommunityPeople often yearn for a sense of belonging and connection: they long to live in a meaningful community. In the modern age, however, this often seems to be a chimera. Does modernity doom us to be atomised individuals? Does the promise of community imply a loss of autonomy and freedom and entrench inequality and hierarchy? In this book, J. Toby Reiner examines the debates surrounding community in modern political and social thought. He outlines how liberals, conservatives, socialists, and nationalists have historically conceived of the ties that bind together political communities, and how recent political philosophers such as Rawls, Taylor, Walzer, and Sandel have debated the nature and merits of community in the contemporary world. He goes on to consider how prominent conceptions of community relate to and are in tension with characteristically modern ideals such as equality and freedom. He deftly shows how a meaningful conception of community can be reconciled with the demands of modern liberal societies. Filled with real-life examples and thought-provoking discussions of the key debates, this book will be essential reading for students of contemporary political theory and philosophy and of sociology. |
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appeal argument autonomy Barber Bellah Boswell boundaries Cambridge University Press challenges citizens citizenship civil society Cladis claim classical liberalism collective commitment communitarians argue conception conservatism conservative cooperation cosmopolitan Critics critique cultural deliberative democracy democratic Derber discussion in Chapter distributive justice Durkheim Dworkin Eckersley economy egalitarian Emile Durkheim equality especially Essential Communitarian Reader estrangement Ethics Etzioni example Frazer freedom Global Age groups human identity immigration important individual individualistic inequality interests Kymlicka liberal liberal democracies London MacIntyre 1985 means membership Michael Miller minorities modern moral Mulhall and Swift Multiculturalism nation-state nationalists negative freedom norms Okin one’s Oxford participation Philosophy political community political theory position positive freedom principle projects promote question Rawls redistribution Reiner reject relationship republican responsibility Sandel seek Selznick shared social democracy social-democratic social-democratic nationalism socialists solidarity special duties Taylor tension theory of justice Tönnies values vision Walzer workers workplace York