Restoring Democracy to America

Restoring Democracy to America both diagnoses the current stalemate and analyzes the roots of dysfunctional democracy from the 1870s, and especially after the 1960s, to today. This is a pertinent topic given bailouts, lobbyist power, gridlock, global warming, growing income disparities, and the general publics discouragement with both parties. A great strength of McDermotts book is his concrete proposals, requiring deep but possible reform for restoring a non-elitist participatory democracya government in which the electorate is not isolated from the decisions being made by big institutions that negotiate change with the government as equals. The book is written in the vernacular, and the problems and the proposals for reforms are novel and provocative. Rosalyn Baxandall,The College at Old Westbury, SUNY John McDermotts Restoring Democracy to America is an intriguing social, political, and economic analysis of the United States from the late 1950s to the present, as well as a personal memoir, history, and prescription for change. Erudite, wide-ranging, and not falling into conventional ideological or political categories, this book is disconcerting in its recitation of false paths taken, but it lays out a framework for change without indulging in platitudes or rhetoric. It addresses the question, how can an autonomous working-class political culture be renewed in the absence of trade unionism? At the heart of the prescription is the notion of work as a natural right (more timely than ever in an age of double-digit unemployment), linked to a series of radical political and constitutional reforms. This book deserves a wide audience. Paul Auerbach,Kingston University John F. M. McDermotts Restoring Democracy to America is a sweeping, powerful political sociology of the conservative reaction that dominated the politics and culture of advanced capitalist democracies after the postWorld War II welfare state consensus weakened in the 1970s. His book brings social theory to bear upon a nuanced historical analysis of the rise (and now crisis) of deregulated, finance-driven, postindustrial capitalism. He adeptly shows how the Right succeeded (with difficulty) in bringing together the managerial elites turn against the welfare state and the antimodernist cultural impulses of deindustrialized communities. But McDermott does not simply chart the rise and consolidation of conservative rule; his analysis also illuminates the social dynamics that may give rise to democratic forces that can revive progressive politics. Joseph M. Schwartz,Temple University

John F. M. McDermott is Professor Emeritus of Social Science at The College of Old Westbury, SUNY, where he chaired the Labor Studies Department from 1981 to his retirement in 1990.

Contents Preface: A Life of Thought in a Life of Politics Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1: The Historic Advance, ca. 18701970 1. The Historic Advance: Setting a Context 2. Interpreting the Sixties 3. The Modern Reaction Part 2: Recapping and Beyond 4. Social Stratification and Social Dynamics 5. Institutional Elites and Social Action 6. The Inner Government Within Liberal Democracy Part 3: Proposals for a Renewed Historic Advance 7. On Strategy and Organization 8. The Reform of the Police Power 9. Civilizing the Corporation 10. A Civilized Employment System 11. International Government and International Chaos 12. Political Reform Notes References Index