Beyond Adversary Democracy

By Jane J. Mansbridge and Mansbridge

Book Overview

"Beyond Adversary Democracy should be read by everyone concerned with democratic theory and practice."--Carol Pateman, Politics

"Sociologists recurrently complain about how seldom it is that we produce books that combine serious theorizing about important issues of public policy with original and sensitive field research. Several rounds of enthusiastic applause, then, are due Jane Mansbridge . . . for having produced a dense and well written book whose subject is nothing less ambitious than the theory of democracy and its problems of equality, solidarity, and consensus. Beyond Adversary Democracy, however, is not simply a work of political theory; Mansbridge explores her abstract subject matter by close studies (using ethnographic, documentary, and questionnaire methods) of two small actual democracies operating at their most elemental American levels (1) a New England town meeting ("Selby," Vermont) and (2) an urban crisis center ("Helpline"), whose 41 employees shared a New Left-Counterculture belief in participatory democracy and consensual decision-making. Mansbridge] is a force to contend with. It is in our common interest that she be widely read."--Bennett M. Berger, Contemporary Sociology

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226503550
• ISBN13: 9780226503554
• Release Date: June 1983
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 412 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Political Science and Theory

There remains a strong divide in the study of politics between people who consider themselves political scientists and political theorists. When Mansbridge's book first came out, it was praised for demonstrating that one can do both. And the praise is deserved.The book focusses on two communities. The first, a small town in the Northeast, exemplifies town hall democracy. The second, an organization committed to providing various kinds of community help, exemplifies early seventies' attempts to have completely egalitarian organizations.Mansbridge mentions that she included both because she had intended to contrast an adversarial democracy (the town meeting) with a unitary democracy (the help line), but that her data complicated the neat dichotomy. Mansbridge observed each community trying to resolve a difficult conflict, and she interviewed various members.The book is rich, and I have found it very useful for thinking about why Americans have so much trouble imagining that discursive conflict might be a good thing. Mansbridge has beautiful quotes from people describing their discomfort with argument, and I think she's right to draw some general conclusions from them.Although I'm not a political theorist, I found the book intelligent and intelligible, and I highly recommend it to someone who is interested in conflict within organizations.