Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Modern technology has radically and irretrievably altered our sense of identity and hence our social, political, and legal life, argues Lawrence M. Friedman in this new book. In traditional societies, he explains, relationships and identities were strongly vertical: there was a clear line of authority from top to bottom, and identity was fixed by one's birth or social position. But in modern society, identity and authority have become much more horizontal: people feel freer to choose who they are and to form relationships on a plane of equality. Friedman examines how modern life centers on human identity seen in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion, and how this new way of defining oneself affects politics, social structure, and the law.Synopsis
Modern technology has radically and irretrievably altered our sense of identity and hence our social, political, and legal life, argues Lawrence M. Friedman in this new book. In traditional societies, he explains, relationships and identities were strongly vertical: there was a clear line of authority from top to bottom, and identity was fixed by one's birth or social position. But in modern society, identity and authority have become much more horizontal: people feel freer to choose who they are and to form relationships on a plane of equality. Friedman examines how modern life centers on human identity seen in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion, and how this new way of defining oneself affects politics, social structure, and the law.
Publishers Weekly
Friedman argues that today's mass culture of television, movies, pop music and mass communications spreads an ideology of choice, consumption, individualism and mobility and is basically modern and global, rather than specifically Western. Likewise, he believes the drive for human rights, freedoms and individual dignity unfolding around the world is a struggle for universal rather than intrinsically Western values. These trends, he maintains in a humane study that is by turns workmanlike and provocative, have been unleashed by the shift away from the traditional, "vertical," top-down authority systems of parents, bosses, heads of state and priests toward a "horizontal" society organized around relationships with peers or with like-minded individuals. Through the prism of this horizontal vs. vertical framework, Friedman, a Stanford law professor, offers some fresh insights into marriage, nationalist and ethnic strife, class and debates over affirmative action and language. Friedman contends that the U.S. has evolved from a culture of assimilation toward the ideal of "plural equality" or diversity within a multicultural society--a goal he generally endorses, even if it has the side effect of political correctness. He closes with a sobering look at the downside of global mass culture--shallow consumerism, rootlessness, worship of empty success, atomization of millions of isolated individuals. (Apr.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Friedman argues that today's mass culture of television, movies, pop music and mass communications spreads an ideology of choice, consumption, individualism and mobility and is basically modern and global, rather than specifically Western. Likewise, he believes the drive for human rights, freedoms and individual dignity unfolding around the world is a struggle for universal rather than intrinsically Western values. These trends, he maintains in a humane study that is by turns workmanlike and provocative, have been unleashed by the shift away from the traditional, "vertical," top-down authority systems of parents, bosses, heads of state and priests toward a "horizontal" society organized around relationships with peers or with like-minded individuals. Through the prism of this horizontal vs. vertical framework, Friedman, a Stanford law professor, offers some fresh insights into marriage, nationalist and ethnic strife, class and debates over affirmative action and language. Friedman contends that the U.S. has evolved from a culture of assimilation toward the ideal of "plural equality" or diversity within a multicultural society--a goal he generally endorses, even if it has the side effect of political correctness. He closes with a sobering look at the downside of global mass culture--shallow consumerism, rootlessness, worship of empty success, atomization of millions of isolated individuals. (Apr.)Library Journal
"Plural equality...strikes me as a worthwhile goal--hard to carry out and with some nasty side effects but still worthwhile," observes Stanford University law professor Friedman in this thoughtful though somewhat rambling consideration of modern society. Friedman, the author of numerous books and articles on legal history and the relationship of law and society, casts a wide net, factoring in historic, social, racial, political, ethnic, religious, and technological concerns in describing the "horizontal," choice-filled society that has supplanted the more traditional "vertical" society that once prevailed. As is quickly apparent, Friedman is both erudite and somewhat folksy, moving with ease from well-documented discussions of topics like celebrity status to rights and their lineage to the language issue, giving this book both popular and scholarly appeal.--Ellen Gilbert, Rutgers Univ. Lib., New Brunswick, NJHerbert M. Kritzer
What Friedman has done in The Horizontal Society is to lay out in his own way the modern dilemma. Although for most of the second half of the 20th century, the dominant story was the Cold War, the demise of the Soviet Union has brought to the forefront the tensions created by modern western culture and technology. Friedman does not have any clear answers to the question of where we should seek to go to get out of the prisoners' dilemma we have created for ourselves. He does, however, provide a powerful portrait of that dilemma. As one would expect, this book is a lively read; it would be a great book to use in an undergraduate liberal arts course where the goal is to get students thinking and talking about the world in which they live and about the dilemmas that their generation faces.— Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison