The chrysalis effect : the metamorphosis of global culture / Philip Slater.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Slater, Philip E. (Philip Elliot), 1927-2013.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social change.

Globalization--Social aspects.

Globalization.

Metamorphosis--Social aspects.

Metamorphosis.

Social history--1970-.

Social history.

Civilization, Modern--1950-.

Civilization, Modern.

Social change--United States.

Social aspects.

United States.

Globalization--Social aspects--United States.

Metamorphosis--Social aspects--United States.

United States--Social conditions--1980-2020.

Social conditions.

United States--Civilization--1970-.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

viii, 242 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Brighton ; Portland, Or. : Sussex Academic Press, 2009.

Summary:

The Chrysalis Effect shows that the chaos and conflict experienced worldwide today are the result of a global cultural metamorphosis, one which has accelerated so rapidly in recent decades as to provoke fierce resistance. Many of the changes that have taken place in the last fifty years - the feminist movement, the rapid spread of democracy, the global economy, quantum physics, minority movements, the peace movement, the sexual revolution - are part of this cultural transformation. Contrary to accepted opinion, the conflict it engenders is not a struggle between Left and Right, or between the West and Islam, but one taking place within the Left, within the Right, within the West, within Islam, within everyone and every institution.

Currently, the world is in the middle of an adaptive process, moving toward a cultural ethos more appropriate to a species living in a shrinking world and in danger of destroying its habitat - a world that increasingly demands for its survival integrative thinking, unlimited communication, and global cooperation.

Using the analogy of the caterpillar's painful transformation into a butterfly, Philip Slater explains this global metamorphosis - in which innovations are seen as a social ill, a critical moral infection, and attacked as such by the upholders of tradition.

Today our world is caught in the middle of this disturbing transformative process - a process that creates confusion over values, loss of ethical certainty, and a bewildering lack of consensus about almost everything. The Chrysalis Effect provides an answer to the question: Why is the world in such a mess?

Contents:

Part I The Way It Works

1 In the Middle of the Bridge 5

2 The Way of Change: Purity Destroys 27

Part II The Effects

3 On Gender Concepts: Is Stupidity Masculine? 41

4 On Thinking: Becoming a Verb 68

5 On Authority: Getting Out From Under 84

6 On Our Psyches: The Illusion of Control 106

7 On Warfare: The Decaying Glory 125

8 On Religion: Back to Nature 146

Part III Where We're Heading

9 Is America's Decline Reversible? 163

10 Changing How We Change 183

Appendix The Rise and Decline of Control Culture: A Brief History 198.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [204]-232) and index.

ISBN:

9781845193119

1845193113

OCLC:

233550057