The Communitarian Reader: Beyond the Essentials (Rights & Responsibilities) [Paperback]

Amitai Etzioni (Editor, Contributor), Andrew Volmert (Editor), Elanit Rothschild (Editor), Don Browning (Contributor), Richard Coughlin (Contributor), Alan Ehrenhalt (Contributor), Richard A. Epstein (Contributor), Francis Fukuyama (Contributor), William A. Galston (Contributor), Steven J. Heyman (Contributor), Hans Joas (Contributor), David Karp (Contributor), Douglas W. Kmiec (Contributor), Philip Langdon (Contributor), Stephen Macedo (Contributor), Sasha Polankow-Suransky (Contributor), Jonathan Rauch (Contributor), Pepper Schwartz (Contributor), Philip Selznick (Contributor), Thomas A., Jr. Spragens (Contributor), Charles Taylor (Contributor), Laurence H. Tribe (Contributor), Eugen Volokh (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 074254219X | ISBN-13: 978-0742542198 | Publication Date: October 2004

As an academic discipline, a public philosophy, and a social movement, Communitarianism has had a profound influence on contemporary American society. By promoting the idea that a good society is based on a carefully crafted balance between individual rights and social responsibilities, Communitarians have inspired new ideas and crafted new policies to strengthen our families, communities and nation.
The Communitarian Reader: Beyond the Essentials brings together essays by prominent social thinkers, reflecting on a wide-range of issues—from new approaches to fighting crime in inner city, to the relationship between norms and laws, and to the role of civil liberties after September 11th. Following the success of The Essential Communitarian Reader, this work takes readers to the next level of Communitarianism, and serves as a vital guide for all interested in further exploring this important social movement.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Communitarian Reader: Beyond the Essentials accomplishes just what its name implies. It offers a sophisticated sampling of provacative essays from a variety of communitarian perspectives. Rather than setting forth a standard communitarian 'truth,' it gathers together a series of fascinating and sometimes divergent views, bound together by an appreciation of the value of community and social responsibility. (Ackerman, Robert )

Many people suspect that a new way must exist between the doctrine of laissez-faire (with its disdain for the bonds of society) and the doctrine of prescriptive conservatism (with its disdain for individual liberties). That new way does exist. It is called 'communitarianism,' and Amitai Etzioni is its leading theorist. This book presents an exciting and practical alternative to philosophies that have failed us. (Steven G. Brint )

A fresh, communitarian imagination animates these accessible theoretical essays, lively position pieces, and timely reports on American social trends. Here are lots of conversation-starters for anyone who wants to create a more responsible society. (Lichterman, Paul )

This is an important collection of papers on communitarian themes. The authors are uniformly first-rate thinkers, and anyone who wants an overview of the subject can do no better than turning to the workn assembled by Etzioni and his collegues. (Stephen Elkin )

In a time with questions of local versus global allegiance, concerns for what is an appropriate moral focus, and arguments for how to instill 'proper' values into children, the issues raised in this excellent and thought-provoking reader are critical to ponder and discuss. Americans still argue the value of liberal thought in regard to the body politics, and this book provides a useful and important alternative to that view of human associations. This book can be read with profit by all segments of the public and university communities. (Perspectives On Political Science )

Professor Etzioni has put himself in excellent company, usefully extending the communitarian project both practically and theoretically with input from many of the top political thinkers of our time. An invaluable volume for academicians, policymakers, and anyone concerned with the dissolution of social capital in our increasingly fragmented world. (Mark E. Gammon )

About the Author

Amitai Etzioni is the founder of the communitarian movement and university professor at George Washington University. He is the editor of The Responsive Community: Rights and Responsibilities, a communitarian quarterly and the author of numerous books on political and social theory, including The New Golden Rule and My Brother's Keeper.

Andrew Volmert is completing his PhD at Yale University.

Elanit Rothschild is mangaging editor of The Responsive Community.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074254219X
• ISBN-13: 978-0742542198
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #699,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After receiving his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1958, Dr. Amitai Etzioni served as a Professor of Sociology at Columbia University for 20 years; part of that time as the Chairman of the department. He was a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in 1978 before serving as a Senior Advisor to the White House from 1979-1980. In 1980, Dr. Etzioni was named the first University Professor at The George Washington University, where he is the Director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies. From 1987-1989, he served as the Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School.

Dr. Etzioni served as the president of the American Sociological Association in 1994-95, and in 1989-90 was the founding president of the international Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. In 1990, he founded the Communitarian Network, a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to shoring up the moral, social and political foundations of society. He was the editor of The Responsive Community: Rights and Responsibilities, the organization's quarterly journal, from 1991-2004. In 1991, the press began referring to Dr. Etzioni as the 'guru' of the communitarian movement.

Dr. Etzioni is the author of numerous books, including The Monochrome Society (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), The Limits of Privacy (New York: Basic Books, 1999), The New Golden Rule (New York: Basic Books, 1996), which received the Simon Wiesenthal Center's 1997 Tolerance Book Award, The Spirit of Community (New York: Crown Books, 1993), and The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics, (New York: Free Press, 1988). His most recent books are My Brother's Keeper: A Memoir and a Message (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), and From Empire to Community: A New Approach to International Relations (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

Outside of academia, Dr. Etzioni's voice is frequently heard in the media.

In 2001, he was named among the top 100 American intellectuals as measured by academic citations in Richard Posner's book, Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline.

Also in 2001, Dr. Etzioni was awarded the John P. McGovern Award in Behavioral Sciences as well as the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was also the recipient of the Seventh James Wilbur Award for Extraordinary Contributions to the Appreciation and Advancement of Human Values by the Conference on Value Inquiry, as well as the Sociological Practice Association's Outstanding Contribution Award.

Dr. Etzioni is married and has five sons.