Is the "Will of the People" a myth? Discover the controversial classic that shattered the romantic illusion of democracy. In a world saturated with media manipulation, fake news, and political polarization, do you ever feel like a "deaf spectator in the back row" of history? You are not alone. In 1925, legendary journalist and political critic Walter Lippmann wrote a book so prophetic it reads like a commentary on today’s headlines. The Phantom Public is a cold splash of water for anyone who believes that the average citizen is capable of governing a complex world. Lippmann argues that the "public" is an abstraction—a phantom—and that the idea of the "omnicompetent citizen" is a dangerous fiction. Why is this 20th-century masterpiece essential reading for the modern era? Understand the Machinery of Power: Learn why Lippmann believed that the average voter is too busy, distracted, and uninformed to manage public affairs, leaving the real power to insiders and experts. The Origins of "Manufacturing Consent": Before Noam Chomsky, there was Lippmann. This text lays the foundation for understanding how public opinion is shaped, controlled, and often ignored by the elite. A Realist View of Democracy: Move beyond idealistic slogans. Lippmann proposes that the true purpose of democracy is not to express a mystical "will," but simply to manage conflicts without violence. Navigate the Information Age: Written decades before the internet, Lippmann’s analysis of how limited information leads to bad policy is the key to decoding our current political philosophy and social unrest. "The private citizen today has come to feel rather like a deaf spectator in the back row... He lives in a world which he cannot see, does not understand and remains unable to direct." Whether you are a student of political science, a skeptic of the mainstream narrative, or a reader of Edward Bernays and Hannah Arendt, this book will challenge everything you think you know about your role in society. Stop watching the shadows on the wall. Scroll up and click "Buy Now" to confront the reality of The Phantom Public.

"Climate change is the unifying crisis of our time. But the scale of the problem can be paralyzing, especially when corporations are actively staving off changes that could save the planet but which might threaten their bottom lines. To quote Greta Thunberg, despite very clear science and very real devastation, the adults at the table are still saying "blah blah blah." Something has to change--but what, and how? In What's Left, Malcolm Harris cuts through the noise and gets real about our remaining options for saving the world. Just as humans have caused climate change, we hold the power to avert a climate apocalypse, but that will only happen through collective political action. Harris outlines the three strategies--progressive, socialist, and revolutionary--that have any chance of succeeding, while also revealing that none of them can succeed on their own. What's Left shows how we must combine them into a single pathway: a meta-strategy, one that will ensure we can move forward together rather than squabbling over potential solutions while the world burns." -- Provided by publisher.

Rising inequality of income and power, along with the recent convulsions in the finance sector, have made the search for alternatives to unbridled capitalism more urgent than ever. Yet there has been a global retreat by the Left: on the assumption that liberal capitalism is the only game in town, political theorists tend to dismiss as utopian any attempt to rethink our social and economic relations. As Fredric Jameson first argued, it is now easier for us to imagine the end of the world than an alternative to capitalism. Erik Olin Wright’s Envisioning Real Utopias is a comprehensive assault on the quietism of contemporary social theory. Building on a lifetime’s work analyzing the class system in the developed world, as well as exploring the problem of the transition to a socialist alternative, Wright has now completed a systematic reconstruction of the core values and feasible goals for Left theorists and political actors. Envisioning Real Utopias aims to put the social back into socialism, laying the foundations for a set of concrete, emancipatory alternatives to the capitalist system. Characteristically rigorous and engaging, this will become a landmark of social thought for the twenty-first century.

"Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This updated second edition presents nationalism as the most important social force shaping the ways in which people live their lives. It explains the formative influence of nationalism in the public spheres of politics and the economy, as well as the private spheres of emotional wellbeing and mental illness. In this new edition, Liah Greenfeld adds the discussion of civilization to concepts addressed in the original edition, providing an original, meaningful, logical definition of the concept, and allowing for a reliable delineation of the three civilizations coexisting in the world today: the monotheistic one, the Indic, and the Sinic. She explains how nationalism is modified by the civilizational background. Basing its conclusions on over 35 years of original comparative historical research, this book bears the characteristic Liah Greenfeld imprint: fact-based discussion, logical rigor, unexpected connections, and an exceptionally wide range of issues woven together to explain the way we live now. Key features of the second edition include: - preface addressing the spread of nationalism into China and India - updated reading lists, directing students and scholars towards useful resources for further in-depth study"-- Provided by publisher.

Murray Bookchin was one of the most important radical thinkers of the twentieth century. This is his final book, completed just before he died in 2006. It is the first book to comprehensively explain his political ideas. In the 1960s Murray Bookchin introduced the concept of ecology into progressive politics, and he is widely regarded as the foremost theorist of the green and anarchist movements. Bookchin argued that capitalism and the nation state, as well as oppressive social relations in general, must be abolished if we are to have a rational and ecological society. According to Bookchin, we must fundamentally remake society along ecological lines, based on principles of confederation, humanism, non-hierarchy and direct democracy. In a time when the left is highly defensive, Bookchin's ideas of social ecology present a strong vision of an alternative society. With today's huge improvements in communications, his bold ideas are increasingly practical and, faced with ecological catastrophe, they are increasingly necessary. This is a must-read for students of political theory and anti-globalisation activists.

Social Studies, Public Policy