Liberal Modernity and Its Adversaries

by Zafirovski, Milan

• ISBN13: 9781608460373
• ISBN10: 1608460371
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-01
• Publisher: Haymarket Books

Summary

This is a book about modern liberal society and its adversaries. The book rehabilitates liberalism from its much-maligned status, especially in America, reclaiming it as the ideal system of liberty in contrast to various forms of anti-liberalism. The book reclaims liberal modernity as a free, equal, and just social system and time, one most compatible with the enhancement of human civilization at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It exposes anti-liberal adversaries, especially conservatism, as ideologies and systems destructive of civilization and incompatible with the contemporary world.

Author Biography

Milan Zafirovski is an associate professor of Sociology at University of North Texas. He has published several books, including Market and Society.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Studying Liberal Society and Modernity	p. 1
Liberal Modernity: Realization of the Perennial Quest for Liberty	p. 7
Concept and Reality of Liberal Modernity	p. 14
Dimensions of Liberal Modernity	p. 15
Liberal Modernity and its Adversaries	p. 17
Liberal Society and Contemporary Western Civilization	p. 23
Liberalism: Idealism and Institutionalism of Liberty	p. 24
Ideal and Social System of Liberty	p. 26
The Ideal and Social System of Liberty, Equality and Justice	p. 29
Synthesis of Liberty and Equality: Freedom and Egalitarianism	p. 29
Synthesis of Liberty and Justice: Freedom and Equity	p. 39
Liberal Society and Modernity: Ideals and Institutions of Liberalism	p. 45
General Considerations	p. 45
Integral Liberty	p. 46
Integration of Economic and Social Liberty	p. 48
Integration of Negative and Positive Freedom	p. 50
Integration of Formal and Substantive Freedom	p. 54
Integration of Individual and Public Liberty	p. 55
Social Foundations of Liberty	p. 57
Liberal Egalitarianism: Comprehensive Social Equality and Inclusion	p. 61
Liberal Sociological-Economic Egalitarian Arguments	p. 62
Liberal and Other Egalitarianism	p. 65
Integral Egalitarianism	p. 73
Liberal Justice: Universal Social Equity	p. 76
Liberal Sociological-Economic Justice Arguments	p. 80
Liberal Democracy	p. 81
The Liberal System of Political Liberty, Equality and Justice	p. 81
Modern Democracy, Liberalism and Anti-Liberalism	p. 83
Societal Pluralism	p. 89
Political Pluralism	p. 91
Political Neutrality and Tolerance	p. 92
Cultural Pluralism and Tolerance	p. 104
Social Universalism	p. 110
Universalism, Particularism and Pluralism	p. 111
Individualism	p. 116
Social vs. Atomistic Individualism	p. 120
Individual Liberty, Universal Rights and Dignity	p. 121
Other Principles and Institutions of Liberalism	p. 126
Rationalism, Modernism, Progressivism and Optimism	p. 126
Liberal Humanism and Secularism	p. 130
Liberal Pacifism	p. 136
Social Factors and Effects of Liberalism	p. 147
The Sociological Constitution of Liberalism	p. 147
The Class Structure of Liberalism	p. 149
The Historical Conjuncture of Liberalism	p. 156
Liberal Society's Genesis and Evolution - Social Origins and Development of Liberalism	p. 166
The Enlightenment: The True Genesis of Liberalism and the Project of Liberal Society	p. 171
Modern Enlightenment versus Medieval Darkness	p. 172
Elements of Liberal Modernity in the Enlightenment	p. 180
Enlightenment and the Conservative-Authoritarian Reaction	p. 183
The Enlightenment-Conservative Antinomies	p. 188
The Enlightenment and Rationalism	p. 192
The Enlightenment and Integral Liberty	p. 198
The Enlightenment and Societal Modernism	p. 205
The Enlightenment and Egalitarianism	p. 211
The Enlightenment and Liberal Democracy	p. 215
The "Neo-Enlightenment"	p. 223
Strands and Instances of the Enlightenment	p. 231
The Enlightenment, the French/American Revolution and Modern Liberalism	p. 237
Types of Liberalism	p. 249
Classical Liberalism	p. 249
British and Continental-European Original Liberalism	p. 250
Liberty in Society	p. 253
A System of Liberty, Equality and Justice	p. 258
Classical Sociological Liberalism	p. 261
Critiques and Revisions of Classical Liberalism	p. 264
Contemporary Liberalism	p. 268
Modern American Liberalism	p. 269
Economic Liberalism	p. 284
Classical Economic Liberalism	p. 289
Contemporary Economic Liberalism	p. 297
Economic Liberalism and Historical Stages of Capitalism	p. 301
Economic Liberalism and Sociological Types of Capitalism	p. 304
Economic Liberalism and Comparative Capitalist Systems	p. 305
Social Liberalism	p. 312
Political and Cultural Liberalism	p. 312
Classical and Contemporary Social Liberalism	p. 322
Neo-Liberalism: "New" Liberalism or Neo-Conservatism?	p. 324
Liberalism and Libertarianism	p. 332
Partial and Extreme Economic "Liberalism"	p. 333
Economic Non-Liberalism	p. 340
Social Non-Liberalism	p. 344
Libertarianism versus Modernized Liberalism	p. 349
Appendix: Other Classifications of Liberalism	p. 352
Liberal Democracy: Political Liberalism	p. 357
Liberalism and Democracy	p. 357
Liberal Democracy and its Adversaries	p. 358
The Liberal-Democratic Link and Its Detractors	p. 359
Liberalization and Democratization	p. 367
Liberal Democracy and Political Liberty	p. 368
Formal and Substantive Political Liberty	p. 369
Constitutional and Liberal Democracy	p. 374
Positive and Negative Political Liberty	p. 379
Individual and Collective Political Liberty	p. 382
Liberal Democracy and Political Pluralism	p. 384
Political Pluralism and Freedom	p. 384
Formal and Substantive Political Pluralism	p. 385
Liberal Democracy and Political Egalitarianism	p. 395
Integral Political Equality	p. 395
Liberal Democracy and Justice	p. 411
Political Egalitarianism and Justice in Liberal Democracy	p. 411
Integral Political Justice	p. 414
Liberal Democracy and Political Universalism	p. 420
Liberal Political Universalism and Inclusion vs. Illiberal Particularism and Exclusion	p. 420
Universalistic Political Culture	p. 423
Modern Liberal and Illiberal Democracies and Universalism	p. 424
Liberal Democracy and Secularism	p. 432
Formal Secularism: A Secular Liberal State	p. 434
Substantive Secularism: Secular Liberal Society	p. 437
Liberal Democracy and Rationalism	p. 443
Political Rationalism versus Economic Rationality	p. 444
Public Use of Reason	p. 445
Liberal Democracy and Humanism	p. 449
Liberal Democracy and Human Liberties, Rights and Life	p. 452
Liberal Humanism and the Welfare State	p. 455
Political Liberalism and the Welfare State	p. 462
Liberal Civil Society and Culture: Socio-Cultural Liberalism	p. 473
Liberalism and Civil Society	p. 473
Liberal Civil Society and Social Liberty	p. 475
Economic and Non-Economic Liberties	p. 476
Individual and Group Liberties, Rights and Identities	p. 480
The 'Dark Side' of Liberal Civil Society and Anti-Liberalism	p. 484
Liberal Culture	p. 487
Enlightenment Culture	p. 487
Liberal Multiculturalism	p. 493
Moral Liberalism	p. 498
Liberal Morality: Moral Liberty and Individualism	p. 498
Liberal Moral Virtue	p. 504
Ethical Universalism and Humanism	p. 506
Ethical Rationalism	p. 510
Religious Liberalism	p. 516
Liberal Religious Freedom	p. 516
Secular Civil Society and Culture	p. 533
Conclusion	p. 545
References	p. 553
Index	p. 571
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