Toward a Good Society in the Twenty-First Century: Principles and Policies

280 Pages·2013·3.989 MB·English

by  Nikolaos Karagiannis, John Marangos (eds.)

P ERSPECTIVES FROM S OCIAL E CONOMICS
Series Editor:
Mark D. White , professor in the Department of Political Science, Economics,
and Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY
The Perspectives from Social Economics series incorporates an explicit ethical
component into contemporary economic discussion of important policy and
social issues, drawing on the approaches used by social economists around
the world. It also allows social economists to develop their own frameworks
and paradigms by exploring the philosophy and methodology of social eco-
nomics in relation to orthodox and other heterodox approaches to econom-
ics. By furthering these goals, this series will expose a wider readership to the
scholarship produced by social economists, and thereby promote the more
inclusive viewpoints, especially as they concern ethical analyses of economic
issues and methods.
Published by Palgrave Macmillan
Accepting the Invisible Hand: Market-Based Approaches to Social-Economic
Problems
Edited by Mark D. White
Consequences of Economic Downturn: Beyond the Usual Economics
Edited by Martha A. Starr
Alternative Perspectives of a Good Society
Edited by John Marangos
Exchange Entitlement Mapping: Theory and Evidence
By Aur é lie Charles
Approximating Prudence: Aristotelian Practical Wisdom and Economic
Models of Choice
By Andrew M. Yuengert
Freedom of Contract and Paternalism: Prospects and Limits of an Economic
Approach
By Pé ter Cserne
Toward a Good Society in the Twenty-First Century: Principles and Policies
Edited by Nikolaos Karagiannis and John Marangos
Toward a Good Society in the
Twenty-First Century
Principles and Policies
Edited by
Nikolaos Karagiannis and
John Marangos
TOWARD A GOOD SOCIETY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Copyright © Nikolaos Karagiannis and John Marangos, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-27473-1
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
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Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-44582-0 ISBN 978-1-137-31362-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137313621
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Toward a good society in the twenty-first century : principles and
policies / edited by Nikolaos Karagiannis and John Marangos.
pages cm—(Perspectives from social economics.)
Includes index.
1. Social policy. 2. Welfare economics. 3. Welfare state. I. Karagiannis,
Nikolaos, 1964– II. Marangos, John, 1962–
HN18.3.T68 2013
306—dc23 2012046504
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: May 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Transferred to Digital Printing in 2013
Contents
List of Tables and Figures v ii
Foreword i x
Dr. Brenda A. Allen
Preface xi
Hon. Dr. Bernard J. Nottage, MP
Introduction x v
Nikolaos Karagiannis and John Marangos
Part I Education, Distribution, and Good Society
Chapter 1
Moral Education and the Good Society: An IMPACT
for HBCUs 3
Denise Pearson
Chapter 2
What Does the Rising Tide Bring? 23
Robert B. Williams
Chapter 3
Divided We Stand, United We Fall—A Good Society
Needs an Individual Poverty Measure 49
Daniè le Meulders and S íl e O’Dorchai
Part II Sustainability, Ecology, and Good Society
Chapter 4
Achieving Environmentally Sustainable Prosperity 75
Shann Turnbull
vi CONTENTS
Chapter 5
Green Consumerism: A Path to Sustainability? 1 05
Valerie K. Kepner and Paula M. Cole
Chapter 6
Sustainability in a Good Society: Alternate Visions from
Australia and the United States 1 23
Janet Spitz
Part III Economic Development, Employment,
and Good Society
Chapter 7
Not Just Fun and Games: Reconceptualizing the Role of
Young People in Economic Development 1 45
K. Maeve Powlick
Chapter 8
The Making of a Good Society: Lowe’s Instrumental
Method and the Pursuit of Full Employment 169
Michael J. Murray
Part IV Civic Institutions, Freedom, Time,
and Good Society
Chapter 9
The Role of Nonprofit Organizations in the Good
Society: The Case of Forsyth Futures, Forsyth County,
North Carolina, USA 189
Jessica M. Bailey, Doris P áe z and Morteza Sadri
Chapter 10
The Acting Person: Reconstructing Economic Agency
around a Living, Breathing, Existential Actuality 2 05
Edward J. O’Boyle
Chapter 11
Time on the Ledger: Social Accounting for the
Good Society 227
Tom Walker
List of Contributors 249
Index 257
Tables and Figures
Tables
1.1 Moral development and relationship to Piaget’s cognitive
development theory 9
1.2 K olhberg’s moral development 14
2.1 Household net worth at selected percentiles 3 0
2.2 Asset ownership by net worth quintiles 3 1
2.3 D ebt assumption by net worth quintiles 32
2.4 H ousehold income, saving, and credit costs by net worth
quintiles 3 3
2.5 Selected asset ownership and risk tolerance by net worth
quintiles 3 4
2.6 Family inheritances, past and expected, by net worth
quintiles 34
2.7 Household giving patterns by net worth quintiles 36
2.8 Attitudes toward credit and legacy by net worth
quintiles 3 6
3.1 Variation in median and mean individual net income in
the event of the couple breaking up 59
3.2 Variation in median and mean individual net income
in the event of the couple breaking up accounting for
inflation 59
3.3 V ariation in median and mean individual net income
in the event of the couple breaking up accounting for
inflation and family size 60
3.4 Components of mean individual net income of men and
women before and after a breakup 6 1
3.5 Comparison of rates of working poor using individual
or equivalized household income to measure poverty 64
4.1 G lobal governance and political economy 89
4.2 E xisting and ecological money 91
4.3 Existing and ecological corporations 9 4
viii TABLES AND FIGURES
4.4 H istory and vision of a transforming society 9 7
6.1 O verall means, values, and beliefs of academics in
Australia and the United States 1 33
6.2 O rdinary least squares regression results, full sample,
values, and beliefs of academics in Australia and
the United States 135
11.1 Ideal types of goods 236
Figures
3.1 Comparison of financial dependence levels and
European at-risk-of-poverty rates 5 6
8.1 Black-white, Hispanic-white unemployment ratio 177
9.1 Categorization of sustainable foods programs and
initiatives 1 95
9.2 Forsyth county sustainable food In itiascapes 1 96
11.1 US weekly hours (industrial) 1850–2010 2 38
11.2 US annual hours worked 1909–2009 238
11.3 W ork curves, 1909 and 1958 243
11.4 W ork curve, 2009 243
Foreword
W
hat constitutes a good society? This is a question that humans
have grappled with for ages. The elements thought to make a good
society have varied over time. So too has the collection of perspec-
tives regarding those elements. As our interactions have become more
global, “society” has become an even larger place. With that expan-
sion comes an increase in the number of opinions, perspectives, and
outlooks regarding what is good. Disparate cultural ideas strive for
reconciliation or dominance, while local experiences vie for center
stage as we seek to define what is good for all.
A common question across time, space, cultures, and ideas is
whether perspectives favor the individual or the collective good.
Individualism as a fundamental belief gives way to frameworks and
doctrines that promulgate the independence of human beings. Within
these frameworks, a good society is deemed one where an individual’s
possibilities are only limited by his or her own lack of focus, initiative,
and perseverance. By contrast, the belief in collectivism promotes
outlooks grounded in the idea of interrelated destinies. A good soci-
ety is one that strives to insure that everyone has access to what they
need to prosper, and shares in contributing to the goal of equity.
This edited book is born out of the belief that a good society is
one that is focused on the collective good. The chapters are grounded
in the idea that society pays when it relegates issues such as poverty,
crime, hunger, and unemployment to analyses of deficient individu-
als. The volume suggests that society will fail if it neglects to care for
all. The chapters on education and distribution remind us that failure
to include everyone in how we define poverty and its impact will
lead to social policies that miss the opportunity to cultivate potential
contributions from all citizens. Moreover these authors argue that
the ultimate price is a society that spends more resources managing
underdevelopment (education, employment, health, and the like) than
it does developing its full reservoir of talent. In terms of sustainability,
x FOREWORD
the authors propose ideas that help to balance the goals of capital-
ism with the need to move toward a more environmentally sustain-
able economic base. These chapters argue that being profitable and
being green are not necessarily mutually exclusive concepts and that
a marriage between the two provides a healthy economy for today
and the future. The pieces on economic development focus on ways
to include all people in employment policies. Together these chapters
suggest that unemployment and underemployment can be eradicated
through policies and programs designed to bring the unemployed
and the underemployed more fully into the workforce. The book ends
with several chapters focused on developing humans toward a more
collective ideology.
Defining a good society in the twenty-first century is a task unlike
one at any other time in history. How we choose to reconcile the
debate between individual versus collective good has a broader impact
than ever before. The impact is not only limited to people and how
to best develop human potential but also involves serious questions
about the health of the planet. This volume takes a definitive stance
on the collective good. The voices within add greatly to what are
probably the most important social, cultural, and political debates of
our times.
DR. BRENDA A. ALLEN
Provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs
Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina