Happiness is the Wrong Metric: A Liberal Communitarian Response to Populism (Library of Public Policy and Public Administration Book 11) 1st ed. 2018 Edition, Kindle Edition
by Amitai Etzioni (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
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This timely book addresses the conflict between globalism and nationalism. It provides a liberal communitarian response to the rise of populism occurring in many democracies. The book highlights the role of communities next to that of the state and the market. It spells out the policy implications of liberal communitarianism for privacy, freedom of the press, and much else. In a persuasive argument that speaks to politics today from Europe to the United States to Australia, the author offers a compelling vision of hope. Above all, the book offers a framework for dealing with moral challenges people face as they seek happiness but also to live up to their responsibilities to others and the common good.
At a time when even our most basic values are up for question in policy debates riddled with populist manipulation, Amitai Etzioni’s bold book creates a new frame which introduces morals and values back into applied policy questions. These questions span the challenges of jobless growth to the unanswered questions posed by the role of artificial intelligence in a wide range of daily life tasks and decisions. While not all readers will agree with the communitarian solutions that he proposes, many will welcome an approach that is, at its core, inclusive and accepting of the increasingly global nature of all societies at the same time. It is a must read for all readers concerned about the future of Western liberal democracy.
Carol Graham, Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution and College Park Professor/University of Maryland
In characteristically lively, engaging, and provocative style Etzioni tackles many of the great public policy dilemmas that afflict us today. Arguing that we are trapped into a spiral of slavish consumerism, he proposes a form of liberal communitarian that, he suggests, will allow human beings to flourish in changing circumstances.
Jonathan Wolff, Blavatnik Chair of Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
8 January 2018
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Amitai Etzioni
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 (http://communitariannetwork.org/). 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.
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.
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fan143
5.0 out of 5 stars A foundation for conversation followed by action
Reviewed in the United States on 7 February 2018
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This is a profoundly courageous book and one that is breathtaking in its scope. In the context of a world that seems to be coming apart from conflict between people, groups, classes, and nations, this new book by Amitai Etzioni offers a guide for thinking about how to find potential resolutions to intractable conflicts. He carefully outlines strategies for achieving the common good through an iterative process of moral dialogues that continually grapple with both rights and responsibilities across local, national, and global levels. Etzioni revisits his earlier work challenging the view of society as the aggregation of individual preferences or choices in which each attempts to maximize his or her own outcomes (i.e., happiness) for a view that recognizes the social nature of people who need to struggle with moral commitments and understanding within the context of community. In Happiness Is the Wrong Metric, Etzioni does not shy away from the challenging and seemingly irreconcilable differences in tackling such issues as job loss versus free trade, inequality and redistribution, immigration, war and security, and the promise as well as threats of technology. Making the case for a liberal communitarianism as the pathway to bridge the divide between nationalism and globalism, particularism and universalism, and individual rights versus social responsibilities, Etzioni offers a foundation for important conversations within and across communities so we can all live together in ways that make sense. I found the book compelling because it has helped me think about issues that seem all-consuming every day of the present political environment. This is a book to be read, shared, discussed, and built upon. Bravo for wise and thoughtful engagement once again with the most troubling issues of our time.
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R.G. T-D
5.0 out of 5 stars This scholarly offering is not just for scholars—it is for “We, the People”....
Reviewed in the United States on 29 January 2018
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Once in a Blue Moon a book comes along that has the scope and depth of a textbook yet the more universal appeal of a life lessons “self-help” book. Professor Etzioni’s latest contribution identifies many of today’s most difficult societal dilemmas and offers suggestions on how to move from an antagonizing “us-them” approach to a more inclusive and healthier “we” solution. This book has been recommended for inclusion into the permanent collection of Fairfax County, Virginia’s Public Library System and I encourage all library systems to follow suit. For the first time in 150 years, there will be a Super Blue Moon on January 31, 2018. For my part, I think this is less about an astronomical phenomenon and more about the publication of this phenomenal book!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars in the eternal struggle between doing good and the temptation to violate our own sense of ...
Reviewed in the United States on 23 January 2018
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Prof. Etzioni’s book looks squarely at one of those big questions thoughtful people must face: in the eternal struggle between doing good and the temptation to violate our own sense of what is right—how do we become “moral wrestlers” and make the right decisions?
That would be enough for any book, but Etzioni goes much further and also probes some of the biggest and most timely questions we must face as a community and a nation: How to deal with the ethical challenges posed by massive loss of jobs caused by automation? How to protect free speech while protecting vulnerable groups from undue harm? How to respond morally (and effectively) when other nations treat their citizens immorally? How to respond to extremism in the Muslim world? And what to do about ethical concerns posed by artificial intelligence—from driverless cars to autonomous weapons?
The scope of Prof. Etzioni’s work is great, and he responds to each moral and ethical issue with experience, compassion, and wisdom.
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Mike Eman
5.0 out of 5 stars Etzioni provides again a society compass
Reviewed in the United States on 3 November 2018
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As Prime Minister of Aruba (2009-2017) and already early on in my political career as Parliamentary Leader of the Christian Democrats in Aruba, I have been constantly inspired in my views of the community and policies to help shape a good society by the writings and thinking of Amitai Etzioni.
Etzioni has made in so many of his books a clear case of how through family and community relations we learn to love, to empathize and to share. These values and norms forms miles of invisible lines of shared happiness, love and respect, forming the fibers that bind a community together, expressed in words as family, society, barrio, neighbor, community pride and friendship.
This is the foundation of a good society. This is the teaching of Amitai Etzioni. All his writings and theories on the source of moral values to create a good society are based on this care and responsibility for the common good.
It is for this reason that I was also somewhat confused by Etzioni’s title of his new book: 'Happiness is the Wrong Metric: Liberal Communitarian Response to Populism”. For in all my translation of what constitutes a good society is the pursuit of happiness instead of the pursuit of material wealth. Everything I did in public office, from promoting social cohesion in the barrios, developing a green pathway for Aruba up to connecting economic prosperity to wellbeing, all had to do with the communitarian view of Etzioni and the critical but profound reflection of Robert F Kennedy on GDP as a measure of wellbeing: “Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials”.
The great value of Etzioni’s book is helping us understand the dilemma between the pursuit of happiness as a focal point in life and its moments of conflict with the common good. It is a must read for all who are interested in finding the solutions for the great tension arising between the pursuit of individual happiness and the pursuit of a good society. For the populist it might seem obvious that the answer is the individual’s dreams above all as if the final destiny of the quality of the society does not affect that final outcome. It is clear, and Etzioni makes it clear again, in this book that the pursuit of individual happiness cannot take place isolated from the wellbeing of the whole society, for our happiness is also bound to our relationship with others and their faith. I am sure that we find again in his reflections a compass for the navigation in the difficult seas that we all as citizens and public servants need to course the destiny of our people and societies.
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neil gilbert
5.0 out of 5 stars What is a measure of the good life? How does morality interact with the maximization ...
Reviewed in the United States on 21 February 2018
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A compelling and provocative book that wrestles with big questions: What is a measure of the good life? How does morality interact with the maximization of self-interest? Is there a defensible ethical response to the competing claims of globalists and nationalists? How can we calibrate a healthy balance between individual rights and social responsibilities? Etzioni addresses these issues with the intellectual force and wisdom that we have come to expect from one of America’s foremost public intellectuals.
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