عنوان

The return of the public /

1844675947 (hbk.)

9781844675944 (hbk.)

bnb

b422057

The return of the public /

[Book]

Dan Hind

New York :

Verso,

2010

viii, 246 p. ;

22 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-236) and index

Introduction -- pt. I. The idea of the public. The classical public ; Private vices and public virtues ; Public servants ; The American republic ; Neoliberal politics -- pt. II. The public in eclipse. The outlines of the crisis ; Estranged from the world ; Estranged from each other ; Estranged from ourselves -- pt. III. The return of the public. Public commissioning ; A public system of knowledge ; Reforming the private sector -- Conclusion: a commonwealth of descriptions

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Our politicians have ever-decreasing legitimacy, our financiers -- their huge corporate risks underwritten by the taxpayer -- are literally and morally bankrupt. All this is done in the name of us, the public, yet we seem to have no genuine say in decision-making and no power to effect change. Why not? Hind traces how, historically, political and intellectual elites constructed a deeply ambiguous idea of the public, one designed to serve their own ends and preserve the ruling status quo. After the second World War, as democratization by previously marginalized groups -- women, ethnic minorities, the young -- presented new challenges to the establishment, governments made fresh attempts to exclude them from genuine political participation, invoking the arcane expertise of allegedly liberal economics and the mystic qualities of nationalism, fueled by a compliant mass media. For decades, the public has been told to leave democracy to the experts. Now, Hind outlines a way forward for a new participatory politics, one based on the wholesale reform of the media. After the failure of the private, now is the time for the return of the public

Political participation-- Great Britain

Political participation-- United States

Great Britain, Intellectual life

Great Britain, Politics and government

United States, Intellectual life

United States, Politics and government

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Hind, Dan

20110429010646.0

[Book]

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