The Home We Build Together: Recreating Society

by Jonathan Sacks

Overview

"Multiculturalism has run its course, and it is time to move on." So begins Jonathan Sacks' new book on the future of British society and the dangers facing liberal democracy.

Arguing that global communications have fragmented national cultures and that multiculturalism, intended to reduce social frictions, is today reinforcing them, Sacks argues for a new approach to national identity. We cannot stay with current policies that are producing a society of conflicting ghettoes and non-intersecting lives, turbaning religious bodies into pressure groups rather than society-building forces.
Britain, he argues, will have to construct a national narrative as a basis for identity, reinvigorate the concept of the common good, and identify shared interests among currently conflicting groups. It must restore a culture of civility, protect "neutral spaces" from politicization, and find ways of moving beyond an adversarial culture in which the loudest voice wins. He argues for a responsibility- rather than rights-based model of citizenship that connects the ideas of giving and belonging.
Offering a new paradigm to replace previous models of assimilation on the one hand, multiculturalism on the other, he argues that we should see society as "the home we build together", bringing the distinctive gifts of different groups to the common good. Sacks warns of the hazards free and open societies face in the twenty-first century, and offers an unusual religious defence of liberal democracy and the nation state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826423498
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	06/02/2009
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Sir Jonathan Sacks is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth. He is the author of numerous books, including Celebrating Life, From Optimism to Hope, The Persistence of Faith and The Dignity of Difference, for which he won a Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Table of Contents

Part One: How Did We Get Here?1. Introduction 2. Society as Country House, Hotel or Home 3. A Brief History of Multiculturalism 4. The Defeat of Freedom in the Name of Freedom5. Victims 6. Technology and the Fragmentation of Culture 7. The Inward TurbanPart Two: A Theory of Society Creation8. A Forgotten Political Classic 9. Social Contract, Social Covenant 10. Telling the Story11. The Responsible Society12. The Home We Build Together Part Three: Where Next? 13. The Uses of Covenant14. Who Am I? 15. Face-to-Face, Side-by-Side16. Civility 17. Multiculturalism or Tolerance? 18. Mending the Broken Family19. A Religious Defence of Liberal Democracy20. A Time to BuildNotesSuggestions for Further ReadingIndex

Editorial Reviews

Sacks, an award-winning author and the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, painstakingly presents a history of the breakdown of civil society as well as a compelling philosophy with which to restore civility to British government and daily life. Global communications technology deteriorates our sense of national identity, he states here, while multiculturalism exacerbates the situation by encouraging social fragmentation, especially along religious lines. We have created a "society as hotel," in which individualism and compartmentalization are the rule of the day. By participating in a social covenant devoted to the common good, we can create society as the "home we build together," a society in which we are integrated but not assimilated and in which we all invest of ourselves to support the whole. Sacks's arguments are compelling, as is his analysis of the advent and results of the multiculturist movement. While applicable to most Western democracies, this work is firmly rooted in British sociopolitical concerns and is written in an approachable but scholarly style. Recommended for academic or larger public libraries.
—Shedrick Pittman-Hassett Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

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