Samenvatting
Summary readings week 1 (Judt, Zielonka, Pinker, Macionis, Mahoney)
- Instelling
- Universiteit Van Amsterdam (UvA)
Summary of all the readings of week 1 from the first year sociology course 'Sociology of Institutions'.
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Sociology of institutions week 1Tony Judt – Ill fares the land: a treatise on our present discontens
Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. We know what things cost but have no
idea what they are worth. The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in
the human condition. We cannot go on living like this. Capitalism is its own worst enemy.
Political left and right: on the left, Marxism was attractive to generations of young people if only
because it offered a way to take one’s distance from the status quo. Much the same was true of
classical conservatism. Today, neither Left nor Right can find their footing.
The rising generation is acutely worried about the world it is to inherit. Back in the era of self-assured
radical dogma, young people were far from uncertain.
A liberal is someone who opposes interference in the affairs of others: who is tolerant of dissenting
attitudes and unconventional behavior.
They share with liberals a commitment to cultural and religious tolerance. But in public policy social
democrats believe in the possibility and virtue of collective action for the collective good. One of my
goals is to suggest that government can play a enhanced role in our lives without threatening our
liberties. The European dilemma is somewhat different.
Critis who claim that the European model is too expensive or economically inefficient have been
allowed to pass unchallenged. And yet, the welfare state is as popular as ever with its beneficiaries. I
want to challenge conventional wisdom on both sides of the Atlantic.
Today there has been a partial awakening. To avert national bankruptcies and wholesale banking
collapse, government and central banker have performed remarkable policy reversals, liberally
dispersing public money in pursuit of economic stability and taking failed companies into public
control without a second thought. But it hardly constitutes an intellectual revolution.
In short, the practical need for strong states and interventionist governments is beyond dispute. But
no one is ‘re-thinking’ the state.
It will no longer suffice to identify the shortcomings of ‘the system’ and then retreat, Pilate-like:
indifferent to consequences.
Insecurity breeds fear. And fear is corroding the trust and interdependene on which civil societies
rest.
They will look to their political leaders and representatives to protect them: open societies will once
again be urged to close in upon themselves, sacrificing freedom for ‘security’.
Zielonka – From revolution to counter-revolution
What happened in Great Britain on 23 June 2016 is only one of many episodes heralding the rise of a
powerful movement aimed at destroying the narrative and order that dominated the entire
continent after 1989. Politicians have embraced some of the counter-revolutionary rhetoric to win
the popular vote. Illiberal politicians are ruling with the voters’ blessing in Europe’s two largest
, neighbours, Turkey and Russia. The US is a quintessential European power. Trump talks like many
European counter-revolutionaries and when running for the presidency he was publicly endorsed by
such prominent European insurgents as marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage.
Geopolitical revolution (Soviet Union disintegrated, Germany reunited, European Union) has been
followed by economic revolution (neo-liberal economics, deregulation, marketization, and
privatization).
More and more powers were delegated to non-majoritarian institutions (central banks, constitutional
courts, regulatory agencies) to make sure that reason rather than passion guides political decisions.
Politics giving in to public pressure was considered irresponsible if not dangerous. Citizens were to be
educated rather than listened to.
Neo-liberal economics had been on the rise in Western Europe for a number of years before the fall
of the Berlin Wall. The liberal revolution has indeed been built on the ruins of he Berlin Wall, even
though history does not end or begin on any particular date.
There is an important trade-off between citizens’ participation and system effectiveness. Poland has
grown more than any European country over the past decade, yet in 2015 the majority of Poland’s
electorate supported a counter-revolutionary party campaigning on an anti-liberal and anti-European
ticket. They found the elite successfully ruling Poland more interested in the opinion of international
ratingn agencies, foreign press, and European bureaucrats than in that of their own ordinary citizens.
Those dependent on the shrinking public provision’s those with no skills to compete in the market, or
those squeezed by mobile migrant labour were ready to switch their vote to political entrepreneurs
who opposed the dominant order.
The Euro crisis and the subsequent refugee crisis demonstrated that the new order is less effective
and liberal than claimed by its proponents. ‘Post-capitalism’ and ‘post-democracy’ are clearly inferior
to the original brand. The two crises also highlighted the growing imbalances among individual states
of Europe. Moreover, the two crises showed that European leaders are unable to reverse their
course and adopt more effective actions.
Old ideological dividing lines are gone and have been replaced by a new (neo)liberal notion of
normality or rationality.
The EU was proclaimed to be the engine of cooperation and those who criticized it were called
agents of Putin. There was no acknowledgement that the existing system of parliamentary
representation needs to be fundamentally rethought. With the passage of time, unsolved problems
started to mount and the official rhetoric became more aggressive. The electorate has been
remarkably patient for some time, but it was slowly started to desert the established parties. This has
opened a window of opportunity for alternative politicians. They have promised that a change of a
government would mean a genuine change of policies if not the existing system altogether.
The counter-revolutionary politicians represent a very mixed bag. Their personal backgrounds and
ideological roots are very different: from neo-fascist to neo-communist, from libertarian to
conservative, from anti-austerity to anti-Muslim, from nationalist to secessionist. However, they all
have one thing in common: they are against the order installed after the 1989 revolution and against
European integration, constitutional liberalism and neo-liberal economics.
The counter-revolutionary politicians are often called populist. This term is misleading and
stigmatizing and fails to identify the key objective of these politicians, namely the abolition of the
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