Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical Politics

by Anthony Giddens

Book Overview

How should one understand the nature and possibilities of political radicalism today? The political radical is normally thought of as someone who stands on the left, opposing backward-looking conservatism. In the present day, however, the left has turned defensive, while the right has become radical, advocating the free play of market forces no matter what osbtacles of tradition or custom stand in their way.

What explains such a curious...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804724512
• ISBN13: 9780804724517
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The Abstract Future

In "Beyond Left and Right," Anthony Giddens analyzes the changing welfare state and, in this context, charts a course for the future of radical politics. Other readers and reviewers may place this book in the context of 1990's debates on welfare reform, but this more a work of sociological and political theory than public policy. In fact, by welfare state, Giddens means the whole of the state as it is concerned with the welfare of its citizens.Giddens' analysis of various conservative and radical political philosophies--this occupies the book's first three chapters--is trenchant. His new radical politics starts, philosophically, with the insight that a conservative movement become radical and a radical movement become conservative are both intellectually inert. A new radical politics could, however, apply philosophic conservatism in the service of its values. Also among the book's strengths are the coherence of its of sociological analysis and breadth of academic research. Giddens describes various forces challenging the welfare state in terms of manufactured uncertainty, a concept which is original, convincing, and rich in its implications. He also uses a variety of fellow academics as conversation partners consistently, but unobtrusively, giving the text a value which is quite independent of his thinking. The last half of Giddens's book, however, is dissapointing. Perhaps that is the inherent paradox of Giddens's writing, that, as a sociologist he can so ably encompass a variety of social changes with terms like manufactured uncertainty and active trust but leave us unimpressed with the generative politics he proposes. Giddens' language is often removed from the practical world of law and politics, so it is never clear whether the superficialitiy of his treatment of issues like third world development or gender relations is deliberate or not.Nonetheless, I recommend "Beyond Left and Right" to other readers interested in taking a tour of political philosophy and sociological scholarship. Giddens is a scholar capable of ordering his thoughts and those of others in ways which are insightful and cogent, if not always practical. This is evident in the first half of the book, which is strong.