Richard Stivers is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University and the author of Shades of Loneliness: Pathologies of a Technological Society and Technology as Magic: The Triumph of the Irrational.

"Stivers challenges the general optimism about freedom and equality in modernity, and highlights the many dehumanizing aspects of the spreading technological culture …This fine book serves as a penetrating wake-up call to those who locate the redemption of the world in the steady export of the technology-rich Western lifestyle." — Metapsychology"This is a well written and engaging text produced by a person who is deeply immersed in social theory, which he wields in a sophisticated and wide-ranging way. I would locate his writing in a distinctive genre of sociological writing, which might aptly be characterized as sociological meditation. What makes his book particularly compelling is the fact that it tackles the most central and enduring issues of our age, which he addresses in a manner that transcends the immediacies of everyday economic and political reality and appreciates both the historical roots and the deep structural foundations." — Peter Kivisto, Augustana College"This outstanding and timely book faces head-on current political issues surrounding freedom and equality." — Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois

• Acknowledgements1. Introduction2. Free­dom and Equal­ity in Enlightenment Thought and American History3.Freedom and Equality as the Modern Ideology4. The Reality of Freedom and Equality5. The Illusion of Freedom and EqualityNotesIndex

Richard Stivers is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University and the author of Shades of Loneliness: Pathologies of a Technological Society and Technology as Magic: The Triumph of the Irrational.

"Stivers challenges the general optimism about freedom and equality in modernity, and highlights the many dehumanizing aspects of the spreading technological culture …This fine book serves as a penetrating wake-up call to those who locate the redemption of the world in the steady export of the technology-rich Western lifestyle." — Metapsychology"This is a well written and engaging text produced by a person who is deeply immersed in social theory, which he wields in a sophisticated and wide-ranging way. I would locate his writing in a distinctive genre of sociological writing, which might aptly be characterized as sociological meditation. What makes his book particularly compelling is the fact that it tackles the most central and enduring issues of our age, which he addresses in a manner that transcends the immediacies of everyday economic and political reality and appreciates both the historical roots and the deep structural foundations." — Peter Kivisto, Augustana College"This outstanding and timely book faces head-on current political issues surrounding freedom and equality." — Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois

• Acknowledgements1. Introduction2. Free­dom and Equal­ity in Enlightenment Thought and American History3.Freedom and Equality as the Modern Ideology4. The Reality of Freedom and Equality5. The Illusion of Freedom and EqualityNotesIndex

Richard Stivers is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University and the author of Shades of Loneliness: Pathologies of a Technological Society and Technology as Magic: The Triumph of the Irrational.

"Stivers challenges the general optimism about freedom and equality in modernity, and highlights the many dehumanizing aspects of the spreading technological culture …This fine book serves as a penetrating wake-up call to those who locate the redemption of the world in the steady export of the technology-rich Western lifestyle." — Metapsychology"This is a well written and engaging text produced by a person who is deeply immersed in social theory, which he wields in a sophisticated and wide-ranging way. I would locate his writing in a distinctive genre of sociological writing, which might aptly be characterized as sociological meditation. What makes his book particularly compelling is the fact that it tackles the most central and enduring issues of our age, which he addresses in a manner that transcends the immediacies of everyday economic and political reality and appreciates both the historical roots and the deep structural foundations." — Peter Kivisto, Augustana College"This outstanding and timely book faces head-on current political issues surrounding freedom and equality." — Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois

• Acknowledgements1. Introduction2. Free­dom and Equal­ity in Enlightenment Thought and American History3.Freedom and Equality as the Modern Ideology4. The Reality of Freedom and Equality5. The Illusion of Freedom and EqualityNotesIndex