Turning the World Right-Side Up: Science, Community, and Democracy

Framed within an analysis of contemporary neoliberalism, this study explores new directions leading to a broad, grass roots–based democracy and argues that the decline of democracy is entrenched in the rule of experts and the domination of scientific reductionism. This essay focuses on the unsustainability of the system that current economists have created in the name of science and discusses a new cultural diversity for communities, outlining an alternative vision for society with democratic participation in decision-making and policy formation.

Patrick Kerans taught social policy at Dalhousie University and other universities for over thirty years and authored many professional books and articles. John Kearney is a social anthropologist working in both community-based and academic settings on natural resource management, local knowledge mobilization, and community capacity building.