The Possibility of Progress by Mark Braund is released today, and could turn out to be the publishing success of the year. It should appeal to anyone concerned at our failure to deal with the mounting problems confronting the world, and suggests a solution which will interest people at all points on the political spectrum, engaging liberals and conservatives alike.
(PRWEB) January 31, 2005 -- With conventional politics increasingly unable to address the concerns of ordinary people, The Possibility of Progress argues for an alternative to prevailing economic thinking which combines the dynamism of free markets with the ideals of socialism. It offers a solution to the problems of poverty and social injustice which promises fair shares for equal effort, whilst promoting individual freedom and protecting the planet for future generations.
Drawing on evolutionary biology, the history of ideas, cultural anthropology, economic history, moral philosophy and social psychology, the book summarises key contributions from each in a style accessible to the general reader.
It investigates what it is about humans as biological organisms, cultural players and economic agents which gives rise to our continuing lack of progress, what we therefore need to change about ourselves, and how change in individuals might translate into wider social change.
The author advocates a return to the ideas of the great classical economist-philosophers who long ago outlined the essential truths of society and its evolution, only for their theories to be selectively taken up by those with a quite different agenda: the protection of minority power and privilege.
Armed with a true reading of economics, and an awareness of the forces which conspire to keep us in ignorance, ordinary people can take control of their lives and begin to transform democracy for the good of all. Progress towards a more inclusive and sustainable world is not just the dream of idealists; the starting point is belief in its possibility, and the journey begins with this book.
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