Arguing that the ideology of freedom and equality today bears little resemblance to its eighteenth-century counterpart, Richard Stivers examines how these values have been radically transformed in a technological civilization. Once thought of as a kind of personal property and an aspect of the dignity of the individual, the context of freedom and equality today is technological before it is political and economic and is also now largely thought of in collective terms. Focusing on the work of Jacques Ellul and Max Weber, Stivers traces the development of freedom and equality in Enlightenment thought and American history and then proceeds to discuss their current ideologies, realities, and illusions.
Table of Content
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Freedom and Equality in Enlightenment Thought and American History
3 .Freedom and Equality as the Modern Ideology
4. The Reality of Freedom and Equality
5. The Illusion of Freedom and Equality
Notes
Index
About the author
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.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
159,402 Ebooks in this category
