Originally published in three volumes in 1987, this book is a selection of the key texts, collected together in a single volume. The book presents an explanatory theory of society and a programme for social reconstruction as a radical alternative to Marxism and social democracy. The explanatory part of the work rejects the search for a lawlike science of society and history, and emphasizes the haphazardness and replaceability of social arrangements. Unger shows how such an antideterministic approach can inspire surprising explanations of past and present institutions, with the result of broadening and refining the sense of the possible. Unger then proposes measures to make democratic institutions more faithful to the essentially experimental nature of democracy. The consequence is to redefine the focus for ideological debate and institutional innovation throughout the world, in developed and developing countries alike. With an introduction that locates Unger's work in the history of politics and social theory, and explores its major themes, this book provides a useful introduction to contemporary debates in social theory, as well as to Unger's ideas.
Roberto Mangabeira Unger is the author of "The Critical Legal Studies Movement", "False Necessity: Antinecessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy" and "What Should Legal Analysis Become?".
- ISBN13 9780521329767
- Publish Date 30 October 1987 (first published 28 August 1987)
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 6 January 1992
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Cambridge University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 237
- Language English