US Politics in an Age of Uncertainty

US Politics in an Age of Uncertainty
Author: Sharon Smith
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2017-11-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1608468747

“This collection contains everything we need to understand the world that gave us Trump, and to arm ourselves for the battles to come” (Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt). The Democratic Party and mainstream liberal organizations have shown themselves to be completely inadequate to address the key questions facing working people today. The corporate-friendly wing of the party, especially in the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2008, has created conditions that led to the Trump phenomenon in the international context of rising right-wing populism. These essays from a wide variety of thinkers delve into topics of economic inequality and exploitation, gender and cultural identity, and how the neglect of the working class by establishment politicians has had consequences that urgently need to be addressed.

The Next Age of Uncertainty

The Next Age of Uncertainty
Author: Stephen Poloz
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2024-02-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0735243921

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 SHAUGHNESSY COHEN PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING • SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 DONNER PRIZE “The Next Age of Uncertainty combines invaluable historical insights with provocative reflections on the economy of the future—a must read.” —Thomas d’Aquino C.M., LL.D., founding CEO of the Business Council of Canada, and author of Private Power Public Purpose From the former Governor of the Bank of Canada, a far-seeing guide to the powerful economic forces that will shape the decades ahead. The economic ground is shifting beneath our feet. The world is becoming more volatile, and people are understandably worried about their financial futures. In this urgent and accessible guide to the crises and opportunities that lie ahead, economist and former Governor of the Bank of Canada Stephen Poloz maps out the powerful tectonic forces that are shaping our future and the ideas that will allow us to master them. These forces include an aging workforce, mounting debt, and rising income inequality. Technological advances, too, are adding to the pressure, putting people out of work, and climate change is forcing a transition to a lower-carbon economy. It is no surprise that people are feeling uncertain. The implications of these tectonic tensions will cascade throughout every dimension of our lives—the job market, the housing market, the investment climate, as well as government and central bank policy, and the role of the corporation within society. The pandemic has added momentum to many of them. Poloz skillfully argues that past crises, from the Victorian Depression in the late 1800s to the more recent downturn in 2008, give a hint of what is in store for us in the decades ahead. Unlike the purely destructive power of earthquakes, the upheaval that is sure to come in the decades ahead will offer unexpected opportunities for renewal and growth. Filled with takeaways for employers, investors, and policymakers, as well as families discussing jobs and mortgage renewals around the kitchen table, The Next Age of Uncertainty is an indispensable guide for those navigating the fault lines of the risky world ahead.

The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty

The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty
Author: Franklin Obeng-Odoom
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2020-11-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1487537611

In the last two hundred years, the earth has increasingly become the private property of a few classes, races, transnational corporations, and nations. Repeated claims about the "tragedy of the commons" and the "crisis of capitalism" have done little to explain this concentration of land, encourage solution-building to solve resource depletion, or address our current socio-ecological crisis. The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty presents a new explanation, vision, and action plan based on the idea of commoning the land. The book argues that by commoning the land, rather than privatising it, we can develop the foundation for prosperity without destructive growth and address both local and global challenges. Making the land the most fundamental priority of all commons does not only give hope, it also opens the doors to a new world in which economy, environment, and society are decolonised and liberated.

Looking Forward

Looking Forward
Author: Jamie L. Pietruska
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2017-12-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 022647500X

Introduction: crisis of certainty -- Cotton guesses -- The daily "probabilities"--Weather prophecies -- Economies of the future -- Promises of love and money -- Epilogue: specters of uncertainty

Threat to Democracy

Threat to Democracy
Author: Fathali M. Moghaddam
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781433830709

2020 PROSE Award Finalist This book explores the recent international decline in democracy and the psychological appeal of authoritarianism in the context of rapid globalization. The rise of populist movements and leaders across the globe has produced serious and unexpected challenges to human rights and freedoms. By understanding the psychological foundations of the surge in populism and authoritarian leadership, we can better develop ways to nurture and safeguard democracy. Why and how do authoritarian leaders gain popular support? In this book, social psychologist Fathali M. Moghaddam discusses the stages of political development on the continuum from absolute dictatorship to the ideal of actualized democracy. He explains how "fractured globalization" - by which technological and economic forces push societies toward greater global unification, while social identity needs pull individuals back into tribal identification - can produce a turn toward dictatorship, even in previously democratic societies. The book concludes with potential solutions to the rise of authoritarian leaders and ways to strengthen democracy.

The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty

The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty
Author: David L. Blustein
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2019
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780190213701

Work plays an essential role in how we engage with the world, reflecting our desire to be productive, creative, and connected to others. By exploring the inner experiences of people at work, people seeking work, and people transitioning in and out of work, this book provides a rich and complex picture of the contemporary work experience. Drawing from extensive interviews with working people across the US, as well as insights from psychological research on work and careers, the book provides compelling evidence that the nature of work in the US is eroding-- and with powerful psychological and social consequences. From this conclusion, the book also illustrates the rationale and roadmap for a renewed agenda toward full employment and toward fair and dignified jobs for all who want to work. The emotional insights complement the conclusions of the best science and policy analyses on working, culminating in a powerful call for policies that attend to the real lives of individuals in 21st century America. By weaving these various sources together, Blustein delineates a conception of working that conveys its complexity, richness, and capacity for both joy and despair.

Coming Up Short

Coming Up Short
Author: Jennifer M. Silva
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2013-07-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 019993147X

What does it mean to grow up today as working-class young adults? How does the economic and social instability left in the wake of neoliberalism shape their identities, their understandings of the American Dream, and their futures? Coming Up Short illuminates the transition to adulthood for working-class men and women. Moving away from easy labels such as the "Peter Pan generation," Jennifer Silva reveals the far bleaker picture of how the erosion of traditional markers of adulthood-marriage, a steady job, a house of one's own-has changed what it means to grow up as part of the post-industrial working class. Based on one hundred interviews with working-class people in two towns-Lowell, Massachusetts, and Richmond, Virginia-Silva sheds light on their experience of heightened economic insecurity, deepening inequality, and uncertainty about marriage and family. Silva argues that, for these men and women, coming of age means coming to terms with the absence of choice. As possibilities and hope contract, moving into adulthood has been re-defined as a process of personal struggle-an adult is no longer someone with a small home and a reliable car, but someone who has faced and overcome personal demons to reconstruct a transformed self. Indeed, rather than turn to politics to restore the traditional working class, this generation builds meaning and dignity through the struggle to exorcise the demons of familial abuse, mental health problems, addiction, or betrayal in past relationships. This dramatic and largely unnoticed shift reduces becoming an adult to solitary suffering, self-blame, and an endless seeking for signs of progress. This powerfully written book focuses on those who are most vulnerable-young, working-class people, including African-Americans, women, and single parents-and reveals what, in very real terms, the demise of the social safety net means to their fragile hold on the American Dream.

Cultural Politics in a Global Age

Cultural Politics in a Global Age
Author: David Held
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2008-04-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781851685509

With contributions from Homi Bhabha, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Will Hutton, Jürgen Habermas and Amartya Sen, among others, this dazzling compendium of some of the world’s most prominent and diverse thinkers examines the question, ‘What is the future of culture in the age of globalization?’ These essays represent a major theoretical and methodological challenge to the social sciences, and question the nature of globalization and the culture of change.

France since the 1970s

France since the 1970s
Author: Emile Chabal
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2014-12-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472507444

Until the mid-20th century, France saw itself as a great power with universalist aspirations and global ambitions. But the Second World War and decolonisation irrevocably changed France's place in the world. Despite attempts to restore the country's 'grandeur' in the 1960s, the French have been forced to reconcile themselves to their modest place at the heart of a changing Europe. What impact has this had on political life? How have the French reimagined the revolutionary, republican and reactionary ideologies that have been so crucial to their history? How has the arrival of hundreds of thousands of postcolonial migrants transformed politics? These are just some of the questions at the heart of France since the 1970s. With contributions from leading specialists on topics as varied as the legacy of empire and neo-liberalism, it explores how the French have dealt with the pervasive sense of uncertainty that has become a defining feature of contemporary European politics.

Environmental Justice and Resiliency in an Age of Uncertainty

Environmental Justice and Resiliency in an Age of Uncertainty
Author: Celeste Murphy-Greene
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2022-06-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000590852

This book examines the issue of environmental justice across 11short chapters, with the aim of creating a resilient society. Starting with a history of the environmental justice movement, the book then moves on to focus on various current environmental issues, analyzing how these issues impact low-income and minority communities. Topics covered include smart cities and environmental justice, climate change and health equity, the Flint Water Crisis, coastal resilience, emergency management, energy justice, procurement and contract management, public works projects, and the impact of COVID-19. Each chapter provides a unique perspective on the issues covered, offering practical strategies to create a more resilient society that can be applied by practitioners in the field. Environmental Justice and Resiliency in an Age of Uncertainty will be of interest to upper level undergraduate and graduate students studying race relations, environmental politics and policy, sustainability, and social justice. It will also appeal to practitioners working at all levels of government, and anyone with an interest in environmental issues, racial justice, and the construction of resilient communities.