The Future of American Progressivism: An Initiative for Political and Economic Reform
 |
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| Author |
Roberto Mangabeira Unger Cornel West |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Political theory |
| Publisher | 1999 (Beacon Press) |
| Pages | 104 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 20613970 |
| LC Class | JK271.U533 1998 |
| Preceded by | Democracy Realized: The Progressive Alternative |
| Followed by | What Should the Left Propose? |
The Future of American Progressivism: An Initiative for Political and Economic Reform is a 1999 book co-written by philosopher and politician Roberto Mangabeira Unger and philosopher, activist and public intellectual Cornel West. In the book, Unger and West describe a central tradition in American social thought that they call "the American religion of possibility." Arguing that economic inequality, political impasse, and increasing isolation of Americans from each other has called that tradition into question, Unger and West present a plan for increasing economic equality and deepening democracy so that the United States better fulfills the promises of the American religion of possibility.
The book received largely positive reviews. According to Kirkus Reviews, Unger and West
call for democratizing the market economy and energizing representative democracy by unleashing the creative abilities of Americans. For we've always been tinkerers, people willing to experiment to find a better way.... Their concerns include the influence of money on politics. While in the past this influence was 'sanctified by the judiciary as if the ability of money to talk . . . were a principle rather than a wrong,' it is now time for government to stop upholding this dismal system and start innovating with public financing. In a country where many Democrats aspire to be nothing more than generous Republicans, they maintain, this sort of re-emergent progressivism is needed to introduce a dose of American creativity. A bold political analysis that should inspire public life but, alas, probably will not.
Another laudatory review came from Mark Satin in the Radical Middle Newsletter, who described the book as
exceptionally bold ... exceptionally detailed.... [O]nly a couple of pages into the book you’ll realize that their principal goal is to drag the old New Left and the new 'identity left,' kicking and screaming, into the world of entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, and scientific and technological progress. Instead of basking in unearned self-esteem, all high school students should be expected to master a tough set of conceptual, practical, and learning skills. In short: Progressives should lead the march away from the old economy, and thereby help define the emerging new economy of 'flattened hierarchies and permanent innovation.'
Writing in Commonweal, Eugene McCarraher commended Unger and West's "sweeping but sensible proposals," but contended that their celebration of the practices of vanguard industry as a path for the rest of the U.S. to reach economic equality was misguided:
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