Saving Liberalism from Itself, livre ebook

• Explores the ways in which liberally minded people can reinvent the wheel to cultivate unity while respecting diversity;

• Provides a new theorisation of core social scientific concepts such as myth, ritual, magic and tradition in terms of how these impinge on nonreligious life;

• An accessible cultural toolkit for resisting the rise of anti-liberalism.

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

In the wake of populism, Timothy Stacey’s book critically reflects on what is missing from the liberal project with the aim of saving liberalism.

It explains that populists have harnessed myth, ritual, magic and tradition to advance their ambitions, and why opponents need to embrace rather than eschew them. Using examples of liberally oriented activists in Vancouver, it presents an accessible theorization of these quasi-religious concepts in secular life.

The result is to provide both a new theoretical understanding of why liberalism fails to engage people, and a toolkit for campaigners, policymakers and academics seeking to bridge the gap between liberal aspirations and lived experiences, in order to promote political engagement and to create unity out of division.

1. Alternatives on the Horizon

2. What’s Liberalism Got to Do with It?

3. How to Address Liberalism’s Faults

4. A Variety of Liberalism in Vancouver

5. Myths that Might Save Liberalism: Emotional Supplements to Moral Logics

6. Rituals for Radicals

7. Magical Feelings as the Source and Aim of Myths and Rituals

8. Traditions at the End of History

9. The Truth Won’t Save Us