© Columbia University Press
Pragmatism and Social Hope: Deepening Democracy in Global Contexts
October, 2008
Cloth, 304 pages, 0 halftones, 0 color illus., 0 line drawings, 0 tables
ISBN: 978-0-231-14458-2
$34.50
/ £20.50
Citizens of all nations have been searching for a democratic public philosophy that provides practical answers to the problems of the twenty-first century. Drawing on the wisdom of past and present pragmatist thinkers, Judith M. Green maps a contemporary citizenship that emphasizes participation and cooperation and reclaims the critical role of social movements and nongovernmental organizations. Starting with empowering processes of storytelling, truth and reconciliation, and collaborative vision-questing that allow individuals to give voice and new meaning to their loss, anxiety, and hope, Green presents cooperative inquiries that guide transformative actions. From this "second strand" of the democratic experience, leaders and participating citizens can help shape a more desirable democratic future.
Engaging with Richard Rorty, Judith Butler, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elie Wiesel, Viktor Frankl, Cornel West, and other contemporary thinkers, Green defines the need for a deeper understanding of the potentials of the democratic ideal. Drawing insights from Thomas Jefferson, Walt Whitman, William James, John Dewey, Jane Addams, and other thinkers, Green frames a pragmatist understanding of emerging realities and possibilities, growing wells of shared truths, multifaceted histories, and mutually transformative experiences of citizenship. Employing examples from America's complex history and from recent world events, Green locates four sites for effective citizen activism: government at all levels, nonprofit organizations, issue-focused campaigns and social movements, and daily urban living. Though knowledge and inclusive civic participation, Green shows how citizens can revive social hope and deepen the democratic experience.