Overview

If the current economic malaise accomplishes nothing else, it should help awaken us all to the realization that our country has been on a path of self-destructive behavior for several decades-a reversal of the progressive path that had made major gains in economic and political equality for a large majority of the U.S. population starting in the 1870s. It is John McDermott's purpose in this ambitious book to explain why that reversal happened, how society has changed in dramatic ways since the 1960s, and what we can do to reverse this downward spiral. In Part 1 he endeavors to lay out the overall narrative of change from the 1960s to the present, emphasizing how a novel social structure came to be developed around corporate America to form what he calls ""corporate society."" Part 2 analyzes what the nature of this corporate society is, how it is a special type of ""fabricated"" structure, and why it came to dominate society generally, eventually including the government and university systems, which themselves became increasingly corporatized. The aim of Part 3 is to outline a path of reform that can, if all its parts can be integrated sufficiently to be effective, put us on the path to restarting the progressive movement.

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9780271037257

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Reviews

John McDermott s Restoring Democracy to America is an intriguing social, political, and economic analysis of the United States from the late 1950s to the present, as well as a personal memoir, history, and prescription for change. Erudite, wide-ranging, and not falling into conventional ideological or political categories, this book is disconcerting in its recitation of false paths taken, but it lays out a framework for change without indulging in platitudes or rhetoric. It addresses the question, how can an autonomous working-class political culture be renewed in the absence of trade unionism? At the heart of the prescription is the notion of work as a natural right (more timely than ever in an age of double-digit unemployment), linked to a series of radical political and constitutional reforms. This book deserves a wide audience. Paul Auerbach, Kingston University

John F. M. McDermott s <em>Restoring Democracy to America</em> is a sweeping, powerful political sociology of the conservative reaction that dominated the politics and culture of advanced capitalist democracies after the post World War II welfare state consensus weakened in the 1970s. His book brings social theory to bear upon a nuanced historical analysis of the rise (and now crisis) of deregulated, finance-driven, postindustrial capitalism. He adeptly shows how the Right succeeded (with difficulty) in bringing together the managerial elite s turn against the welfare state and the antimodernist cultural impulses of deindustrialized communities. But McDermott does not simply chart the rise and consolidation of conservative rule; his analysis also illuminates the social dynamics that may give rise to democratic forces that can revive progressive politics. </p> Joseph M. Schwartz, Temple University</p>

Author Information

John F. M. McDermott is Professor Emeritus of Social Science at The College of Old Westbury, SUNY, where he chaired the Labor Studies Department from 1981 to his retirement in 1990.

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