- Paperback: 292 pages
- Publisher: Transaction Publishers; New edition edition (15 Aug 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1412806224
- ISBN-13: 978-1412806220
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.4 x 1.9 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 756,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
In the last half of the twentieth century, a once respectable and religious Britain became a seriously violent and dishonest society, one in which person and property were at risk, family breakdown ubiquitous, and drug and alcohol abuse rising. "The Strange Death of Moral Britain" demonstrates in detail the roots of Britain's decline. It also shows how a society, strongly Protestant in both morality and identity, became one of the most secular societies in the world. The culture wars about abortion, capital punishment, and homosexuality that have convulsed the United States have little meaning in Britain, where there is neither a moral majority nor an indigenous emphasis on rights. In the period when Britain had a strong national and religious identity, defense of this identity led to legal persecution of male homosexuals. As Britain's identity crumbled, homosexuality ceased to be an important issue for most people. Similarly, all the pressing questions on abortion, capital punishment, and homosexuality were settled permanently on a purely utilitarian basis in Britain, where all sources of moral argument are weak.The ending of the death penalty marked the decline of the influence of the official hierarchies of church and state, the Church of England, the armed forces, and their representative, the Conservative Party. "The Strange Death of Moral Britain" is a study of moral change, secularization, loss of identity, and the growth of deviant behavior in Britain in the twentieth century. Based on detailed scholarship, it is a tightly argued and clearly written volume that will be of interest to scholars of religious studies and British social history.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Brilliant, Insightful--if speculative
21 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
One of the few sociological books I have read that deserves the descriptions "brilliant" and "exciting." The author traces the decline in ethical individualism and the ideal of the ethical state in Britain between the late 19th century and the 1950s and 1960s. This old belief is replaced by something she calls causalism. The former rested on the principle that "the main purpose of public policy was to reward the virtuous, portect the innocent nad penalize the wicked." In the causalist vision of the world, the purpose of policy is to "minimize harm in aggregate regardless of the dessert." Further: "Moralism assumed the existence of the autonomous and responsible indivdiual frely choosing betwen modes of conduct. Causalism, by contrast, assumed thathe actions of individuals were to a large extend cased by their circumstance."
The author traces the replacement of the old order of things by the new causalism by examining the langage of debates over capital punishment, abortion and homosexuality. She also uses sociological and anthropological data to buttress her arguments.
The book concludes by arguing that the new language of causalism undermines the traditional notions of national sovereignty.
The book is brilliantly, if speculatively, argued. The author frequently makes comparisons to the United States, arguing that in Britain the state is conceived of as moral, unlike the States where the individual tends to take moral precedence. She has interesting observations on the connection (or lack of connection) between the "family values" movement and treatment of homosexuals.
The book should be read by people from the political left and right. THe book is less about the "decline of morality" as the title might imply, than the rise of a new form of power operative in modern British (and European) society. The author occasionally lets her preferences show and she does not consider the possiblity that Britain may retain its moral stature--despite not retaining medieval attitudes towards cap. punishment, homosexuality and abortion.
Nevertheless, a must read.
The author traces the replacement of the old order of things by the new causalism by examining the langage of debates over capital punishment, abortion and homosexuality. She also uses sociological and anthropological data to buttress her arguments.
The book concludes by arguing that the new language of causalism undermines the traditional notions of national sovereignty.
The book is brilliantly, if speculatively, argued. The author frequently makes comparisons to the United States, arguing that in Britain the state is conceived of as moral, unlike the States where the individual tends to take moral precedence. She has interesting observations on the connection (or lack of connection) between the "family values" movement and treatment of homosexuals.
The book should be read by people from the political left and right. THe book is less about the "decline of morality" as the title might imply, than the rise of a new form of power operative in modern British (and European) society. The author occasionally lets her preferences show and she does not consider the possiblity that Britain may retain its moral stature--despite not retaining medieval attitudes towards cap. punishment, homosexuality and abortion.
Nevertheless, a must read.
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