Levine traces the history of the concept of efficiency, from Hobbes, through the utilitarian tradition, to contemporary economic and philosophical paradigms; and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the democratic theory implicit in John Rawls's

Preface Foreword INTRODUCTION Left, Right and Center The American Ideology A Democratic Alternative 1. REASON The Idea of Reason The Death of Socrates Is Reason Bad for the Oppressed? 2. IDEOLOGY Natural Selection The Spirit of Capitalism The Protestant Ethic An Optimal Ethic Weber's Lead 3. MEANS-ENDS RATIONALITY The Individual and Society The New Science Hobbesian Sovereignty Optimality Utilitarianism Efficiency Macro-Level Consequences of Micro-Level Choices 4. THE INVISIBLE HAND Smith Was (Partly) Right Market Socialism Information Deficits Shades of Hayek Externalities Market Incompetences Competition Economies of Scale 5. EFFICIENCY AS IDEOLOGY Efficiency and the Soviet Model Problems of Planned Economies Market Solutions? Efficiency Reified Who Benefits? A Vicious Circle 6. THE REASONABLE Liberalism From Tolerance to Neutrality The Neutral and the Reasonable Social Unity Reasonableness 7. DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY Collective Choice Rousseauean Theories Proceduralism Rousseau Without the General Will Implementation Must We Retract Democracy In Order to Save It? 8. WHICH WAY FORWARD? Deweyan Reconstruction Democratizing the Economic Sphere Reconstructing Rawls What Is To Be Done?