Modern Pluralism
Anglo-American Debates since 1880

The first history of one of the most important intellectual movements of the modern era.

Mark Bevir (Edited by)

9781108454087, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 March 2018

263 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

"In ten essays, the scholars disentangle and explain theoretical development and the contemporary social impact of these strands of liberalism on the liberal polities of Great Britain and the US. The diversity of pluarlism's challenges to liberalism are carefully dissected, with special attention to the nuances and idiosyncrasies of key thinkers...This collection of well-reasoned, well-argued essays is not for the theoretically timid." -J.R. Pottenger, University of Alabama in Huntsville, CHOICE

Pluralism is among the most vital intellectual movements of the modern era. Liberal pluralism helped reinforce and promote greater separation of political and religious spheres. Socialist pluralism promoted the political role of trade unions and the rise of corporatism. Empirical pluralism helped legitimate the role of interest groups in democratic government. Today pluralism inspires thinking about key issues such as multiculturalism and network governance. However, despite pluralism's importance, there are no histories of twentieth-century pluralist thinking. Modern Pluralism fills this gap. It explores liberal, socialist, and empirical ideas about diversity in Britain and the United States. It shows how pluralists challenged homogenous nations and sovereign states, often promoting sub-national groups as potential sites of self-government. In it, intellectual historians, political theorists, and social scientists collectively explore the historical background to present institutions and debates. The book serves to enrich our understanding of the history of pluralism and its continuing relevance.

1. A history of modern pluralism Mark Bevir
2. From liberal constitutionalism to pluralism Jacob T. Levy
3. Guild socialism Marc Stears
4. Pluralism and method at the turn of the century Avigail Eisenberg
5. Value pluralism in twentieth-century Anglo-American thought Jan-Werner Müller
6. Corporatism and its discontents: pluralism, anti-pluralism and Anglo-American industrial relations, c.1930–80 Ben Jackson
7. The rise and fall of the democratic dogma and the emergence of empirical democratic theory John G. Gunnell
8. Liberalism, pluralism, multiculturalism: contemporary debates Ruth Abbey
9. The revival of radical pluralism: associationism and difference Mark Bevir and Toby Reiner
10. Beyond pluralism? Corporatism, globalization, and the dilemmas of democratic governance Robert Adcock and Mark Vail.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], History of ideas [JFCX], Social & political philosophy [HPS]