Thick moralities, thin politics : social integration across communities of belief / Benjamin Gregg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gregg, Benjamin Greenwood, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communitarianism.

Social justice.

Social policy--Moral and ethical aspects.

Social policy.

Religion and politics.

Physical Description:

245 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2003.

Summary:

At the center of pluralistic societies like the United States is the question of how to make broadly consensual social policy in light of the different moral values held by a heterogeneous population varying in ethnicity, sexual identity, religion, and political belief. In Thick Moralities, Thin Politics Benjamin Gregg develops a new approach to dealing with conflicting values in the policymaking process. Arguing that public policy suffers when politics are laden with moral doctrines, Gregg contends that "thickly" moral public philosophies cannot be the basis of a successful political process. He offers a "thin" model of political decision making that brackets moral questions (within the public sphere), deliberately working around them whenever possible, not toward political consensus, but rather toward the more realistic goal of mutual accommodation.

Thick Moralities, Thin Politics grapples with the work of theorists from both sides of the Atlantic, including Jurgen Habermas, Anthony Giddens, and Niklas Luhmann, as well as George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman, and Harold Garfinkel. Gregg develops a model of validity for arguments made in the public sphere, for understanding among competing worldviews, and for adjudicating disputes generated by normative differences. He applies his theory of politics to specific issues of contemporary social life, including those relating to the place of women, minorities, and multiculturalism in American and European society today. He also addresses the scientific study of religion, issues of legal interpretation, and the critique of ideology, in each case illuminating how different epistemic systems, as well as competing value systems, can achieve some understanding of one another. Gregg demonstrates, ultimately, that thin politics actually further, rather than reduce, citizens' engagement in the political process.

Contents:

Thick and thin

Social integration within cosmopolitan societies

Social integration among diverse communities

Solidarities, understandings, identities

Political judgment about indeterminate legal norms

Political judgment about competing cultural values

Political judgment as ideology critique.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [223]-234) and index.

ISBN:

0822330814

0822330938

OCLC:

50920706