Progress and Its Discontents

Front Cover
Univ of California Press, Nov 10, 2023 - Social Science - 580 pages
Events of the past two decades have challenged many of the fundamental beliefs, institutions, and values of modern western culture--the culture of "progress." Are science and technology really progressive and beneficial? Have they led to the enhancement of welfare, greater hapiness, and moral immprovement? I s the continued growth of material productivity possible? Desirable? Are the institutions of progress viable?Progress and Its Discontents assembles the views on progress of some of America's leading humanists, scientists, and social scientists. Citing disappointed expectations of progress in spheres from science to morals and politics, and the many problems created or left untouched by progress, the editors conclude that the term no longer refers to "an inevitable sequence of improvements" but rather to "an aspiration and compelling obligation." Contributors: Nannerl O. Keohane Georg G. Iggers Alfred G. Meyer Crawford Young Francisco J. Ayala John T. Edsall Gerald Fenberg Bernard D. Davis Gerald Holton Marc J. Roberts H. Stuart Hughes Moses Abramovitz Harvey Brooks Nathan Rosenberg Hollis B. Chenery Gianfranco Poggi Aaron Wildavsky G. Bingham Powell, Jr. Samuel H. Barnes Steven Marcus Murray Krieger Robert C. Elliott Martin E. Marty Daniel Bell Frederick A. Olafson This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work.
 

Contents

Introduction GABRIEL A ALMOND MARVIN CHODOROW
1
Historical Ideological and Evolutionary Aspects
17
GEORG G IGGERS
41
The Idea of Progress in Communist Ideology
67
Ideas of Progress in the Third World
83
FRANCISCO J AYALA
106
PART II
125
JOHN T EDSALL
135
NATHAN ROSENBERG
301
Poverty and Progress
319
PART IV
333
AARON WILDAVSKY
361
G BINGHAM POWELL
375
SAMUEL H BARNES
403
PART V
427
MURRAY KRIEGER
449

GERALD FEINBERG
161
DAVIS
182
GERALD HOLTON
202
MARC J ROBERTS
226
Progress Paradigms
240
PART III
249
Can Technology Assure Unending Material Progress?
281
ELLIOTT
470
MARTIN E MARTY
482
DANIEL BELL
501
An Ethical Appraisal
524
Contributors
547
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2023)

Almond Gabriel A. : Enter the Author Bio(s) here.

Bibliographic information