The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in an Age of Apathy
by Russell Jacoby
80 Members (3.21)
On This Page
Description
We are facing the end of politics altogether, Russell Jacoby argues in The End of Utopia. Political contestation is premised on people's capacity for offering competing visions of the future, but in a world that has run out of political ideas and no longer harbors any utopian visions, real political opposition is no longer possible. In particular, Jacoby traces the demise of liberal and leftist politics. Leftist intellectuals and critics no longer envision a different society, only a show more modified one. The left once dismissed the market as exploitative, but now honors it as rational and humane. The left used to disdain mass culture, but now celebrates it as rebellious. The left once rejected pluralism as superficial, but now resurrects pluralist ideas in the guise of multiculturalism.Ranging across a wide terrain of cultural and political phenomena--the end of the Cold War, the rise of multiculturalism, the acceptance of mass culture, the eclipse of independent intellectuals--Jacoby documents and laments a widespread retreat from the utopian spirit that has always been the engine for social and political change. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
15+ Works 816 Members
Russell Jacoby is professor of history at UCLA.
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in an Age of Apathy
- Original publication date
- 1999
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Politics and Government, General Nonfiction, Philosophy, History
- DDC/MDS
- 306.20973 — Society, government, & culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Social Behavior - Dating, Marriage, Divorce Political institutions Biography And History Political sociology--United States
- LCC
- E169.12 .J27 — History of the United States United States General
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 80
- Popularity
- 395,732
- Rating
- (3.21)
- Languages
- English, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
