The Unconscious Civilization

Overview

Full Product Details

Author:   John Ralston Saul
Publisher:   Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint:   Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 12.80cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 19.80cm
Weight:   0.163kg
ISBN:  

9780140264647

ISBN 10:   0140264647
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   07 May 1998
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Available  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

The great leap backwards; from propaganda to language; from corporatism to democracy; from managers and speculators to growth; from ideology towards equilibrium.

Reviews

Readers must look past some unorthodox conceptualizations and outrageous pronouncements to glimpse the piercing insights in this volume. Essayist and novelist Saul (The Paradise Eater, 1988, etc.) argues that in the 20th century ideologies ranging from socialism and fascism to psychotherapy and free market economics have promoted truisms that undermine the acquisition of knowledge. For example, despite evidence to the contrary, we believe that democracy requires free markets, markets convert self-interest into the common good, and technology is the key to progress. As a result, managers, interest groups, and technocrats have become our gods, and the individual citizen is smothered in a bureaucratic society. Saul finds the antidote for this situation in people who seek knowledge without the pacifier of ideological certainty, the public good without pretending it is synonymous with self-interest, and reason without emasculating it in abstract rationality. His critique leaves few residents of the 20th century unscathed, possibly provoking scholars to look down their noses and sniff about sloppy work while nonacademics reject the arguments as out of touch with the real world. This is to be expected if Saul's thesis has any validity. It is also a pity, for there is much here that should not he dismissed so easily. Identifying individualism as an ideology and contrasting it with individual citizens acting in a democracy highlights common assumptions that need to be examined. Portraying universities as willing partners in the commercialization of society, and disciplines like political science and economics as contributors to ideology rather than knowledge, raises serious issues within the undeniably troubled world of academia. Saul's almost nostalgic references to Socrates hardly provide a clear direction, but the lack of an answer should not be used to denigrate the asking of questions. It is unlikely Saul will be forced to drink hemlock, but supporters of the status quo may suggest it. (Kirkus Reviews)

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