The civil sphere is a distinctively democratic field in modern
societies, one that sustains universalizing cultural aspirations and
organizational structures and that has tense and uncertain boundaries
with other spheres of social life, like the economy, religion, family,
and state. Unlike the latter, which are more particularistic and
hierarchical in character, the civil sphere defines itself in terms of
solidarity - the feeling of being connected with every other person in
the collectivity. The utopian ideals of democratic solidarity shape
every modern society, even if they are often compromised by the messy
realities of social life.
This volume uses the theory of the civil sphere to shed new light on
Nordic societies, while at the same time drawing on the distinctive
experiences of the Nordic nations to reflect on and advance the theory
of the civil sphere. Nordic societies have long been admired for
creating a distinctive form of social democracy, but this admirable
achievement has not been well conceptualized theoretically. Most
attempts to explain Nordic social democracy focus on material and
organizational factors. This volume, by contrast, emphasizes the
cultural foundations and characteristics of social democracy,
demonstrating how civil sensibilities are necessary for the creation
of an egalitarian and democratic state. Nordic civil spheres,
however, are not only pro-civil but also white in color, European in
ethnicity, secular in character and gender-equal in a subtly
restrictive manner. Such primordialization of state civility is
vividly on display in the sometime tense relationships that develop
among natives and “foreigners” in Nordic countries, relationships
that expose the primordial undersides of the social democratic codes
and civil values that constitute the Nordic civil sphere.
A major contribution to the theory of the civil sphere and to our
understanding of the cultural and normative underpinnings of social
and political life, this volume will be of particular interest to
students and scholars of sociology and politics.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781509538850
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Polity
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter