Synopses & Reviews
The problem of trust in social relationships was central to the emergence of the modern form of civil society and much discussed by social and political philosophers of the early modern period. Over the past few years, in response to the profound changes associated with postmodernity, trust has returned to the attention of political scientists, sociologists, economists, and public policy analysts. In this sequel to his widely admired book, The Idea of Civil Society, Adam Seligman analyzes trust as a fundamental issue of our present social relationships. Setting his discussion in historical and intellectual context, Seligman asks whether trust--which many contemporary critics, from Robert Putnam through Francis Fukuyama, identify as essential in creating a cohesive society--can continue to serve this vital role.
Seligman traverses a wide range of examples, from the minutiae of everyday manners to central problems of political and economic life, showing throughout how civility and trust are being displaced in contemporary life by new "external' system constraints inimical to the development of trust. Disturbingly, Seligman shows that trust is losing its unifying power precisely because the individual, long assumed to be the ultimate repository of rights and values, is being reduced to a sum of group identities and an abstract matrix of rules. The irony for Seligman is that, in becoming postmodern, we seem to be moving backward to a premodern condition in which group sanctions rather than trust are the basis of group life.
Review
"The Problem of Trust is a demanding, closely reasoned, scholarly work.... It is well worth the time of patient, attentive readers."--Carl L. Bankston III, Commonweal
Review
Adam Seligman's impressively thoughtful book suggests that the logic of waning trust in the late modern period may be to return the human subject to a premodern condition. -- John Gray, The Times Literary Supplement The Problem of Trust is a demanding, closely reasoned, scholarly work.... It is well worth the time of patient, attentive readers. -- Carl L. Bankston III, Commonweal The historical and religious perspective that Mr. Seligman brings to the contemporary debate about trust and civil society would greatly deepen our understanding of the way these issues are playing out in American society today. -- Francis Fukuyama, The Washington Times
Review
"Adam Seligman's impressively thoughtful book suggests that the logic of waning trust in the late modern period may be to return the human subject to a premodern condition."--John Gray, The Times Literary Supplement (London)
Review
"The historical and religious perspective that Mr. Seligman brings to the contemporary debate about trust and civil society would greatly deepen our understanding of the way these issues are playing out in American society today."--Francis Fukuyama, The Washington Times
Synopsis
The problem of trust in social relationships was central to the emergence of the modern form of civil society and much discussed by social and political philosophers of the early modern period. Over the past few years, in response to the profound changes associated with postmodernity, trust has returned to the attention of political scientists, sociologists, economists, and public policy analysts. In this sequel to his widely admired book,
The Idea of Civil Society, Adam Seligman analyzes trust as a fundamental issue of our present social relationships. Setting his discussion in historical and intellectual context, Seligman asks whether trust--which many contemporary critics, from Robert Putnam through Francis Fukuyama, identify as essential in creating a cohesive society--can continue to serve this vital role.
Seligman traverses a wide range of examples, from the minutiae of everyday manners to central problems of political and economic life, showing throughout how civility and trust are being displaced in contemporary life by new "external' system constraints inimical to the development of trust. Disturbingly, Seligman shows that trust is losing its unifying power precisely because the individual, long assumed to be the ultimate repository of rights and values, is being reduced to a sum of group identities and an abstract matrix of rules. The irony for Seligman is that, in becoming postmodern, we seem to be moving backward to a premodern condition in which group sanctions rather than trust are the basis of group life.
Synopsis
"A valuable work, written by one of the more exciting and thoughtful social theorists to have emerged on the American scene in recent years."--Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University, author of Poor Richard's Principle
Synopsis
"A valuable work, written by one of the more exciting and thoughtful social theorists to have emerged on the American scene in recent years."--Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University, author of Poor Richard's Principle
Synopsis
The problem of trust in social relationships was central to the emergence of the modern form of civil society and much discussed by social and political philosophers of the early modern period. Over the past few years, in response to the profound changes associated with postmodernity, trust has returned to the attention of political scientists, sociologists, economists, and public policy analysts. In this sequel to his widely admired book,
The Idea of Civil Society, Adam Seligman analyzes trust as a fundamental issue of our present social relationships. Setting his discussion in historical and intellectual context, Seligman asks whether trust--which many contemporary critics, from Robert Putnam through Francis Fukuyama, identify as essential in creating a cohesive society--can continue to serve this vital role.
Seligman traverses a wide range of examples, from the minutiae of everyday manners to central problems of political and economic life, showing throughout how civility and trust are being displaced in contemporary life by new "external' system constraints inimical to the development of trust. Disturbingly, Seligman shows that trust is losing its unifying power precisely because the individual, long assumed to be the ultimate repository of rights and values, is being reduced to a sum of group identities and an abstract matrix of rules. The irony for Seligman is that, in becoming postmodern, we seem to be moving backward to a premodern condition in which group sanctions rather than trust are the basis of group life.
Synopsis
"A valuable work, written by one of the more exciting and thoughtful social theorists to have emerged on the American scene in recent years."--Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University, author of Poor Richard's Principle
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | 3 |
Pt. 1 | The Problem of Trust | 11 |
1 | Trust, Role Segmentation, and Modernity | 13 |
2 | Agency, Civility, and the Paradox of Solidarity | 44 |
3 | Trust and Generalized Exchange | 75 |
Pt. 2 | The Representation of Trust and the Private Sphere | 101 |
4 | Public and Private in Political Thought: Rousseau, Smith, and Some Contemporaries | 103 |
5 | The Individual, the Rise of Conscience, and the Private Sphere: A Historical Interpretation of Agency and Strong Evaluations | 124 |
6 | Spheres of Value and the Dilemma of Modernity | 147 |
| Conclusion | 169 |
| Notes | 177 |
| Bibliography | 207 |
| Index | 225 |