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This book returns critical theory to its roots in both psychology and the social sciences. It shows some of the relationships between equality in a political and social sense and personal identity that either relates well to such equality, or rebels against it. All this reflects processes of social and cultural influence that involve not only random change but also processes of social and cultural evolution that themselves have effects regarding potentials for self-fulfillment and even public morality. This book provides a framework to help one study the interaction between individual aspirations and social opportunities. Jerome Braun, known for his writings in interdisciplinary social science, an approach he calls pragmatic critical theory, here provides a book that discusses issues relevant to the moral underpinnings of democratic society, including issues of social evolution and of culture and personality.¡ This book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of Psychology (particularly in the areas of Political Psychology, Psychology of Personality and Cultural Psychology), Sociology (especially those interested in Sociology of Alienation and Sociology of Culture, as well as Historical Sociology, Political Sociology¡and Sociology of Mental Health), Anthropology (particularly in the areas of Psychological Anthropology and Political Anthropology), Cultural Studies, and Social Theory as well as¡Political Theory in general.

Preliminary Material /J. Braun -- Introduction /J. Braun -- Chapter 1. Values From A Pragmatic Perspective /J. Braun -- Chapter 2. Alienation: The Short Version /J. Braun -- Chapter 3. Prospects For Democracy: Individualism/Collectivism As Sources Of Association/Community /J. Braun -- Chapter 4. Character And Civil Society /J. Braun -- Chapter 5. Ethics For An Impersonal Age /J. Braun -- Chapter 6. The Place Of Optimism In American Life /J. Braun -- Chapter 7. The Rationality Of Psychological Fulfillment In Adolescents' Lives: The Production Of Personal Relationships And Self-Identity /J. Braun -- Chapter 8. Nihilism: East And West /J. Braun -- Chapter 9. Making Friends In The Non-Western World /J. Braun -- Chapter 10. Aspects Of Hysteria In America, Brazil, Germany, And Africa /J. Braun -- Chapter 11. Figurehead Politicians And Democracy /J. Braun -- Chapter 12. Social Engineering And Public Relations Stunts /J. Braun -- Chapter 13. Liberalism At The Crossroads /J. Braun -- Chapter 14. What Does The Working Class Really Want? /J. Braun -- Chapter 15. Foolish Ritualism And Democracy /J. Braun -- Chapter 16. The Place Of Law In A Democracy /J. Braun -- Chapter 17. The "Star" System In America /J. Braun -- Chapter 18. What Is Happiness? The Loss Of Human Nature In Psychiatry /J. Braun -- Chapter 19. The Lowering Of Professional Standards In America /J. Braun -- Chapter 20. Liberal And Authoritarian Versions Of Democracy /J. Braun -- Chapter 21. Culture And Civil Society /J. Braun -- Chapter 22. Democracy And Civil Society /J. Braun -- Chapter 23. The Ecological Society /J. Braun -- Chapter 24. Plutocracy And The Labor Movement /J. Braun -- Chapter 25. Industrial Democracy For The 21st Century /J. Braun -- Chapter 26. The Great Weakness Of American Government /J. Braun -- Chapter 27. Modern And Postmodern Views Of Democracy /J. Braun -- Chapter 28. Nation-Building And Social Solidarity /J. Braun -- Chapter 29. Reason And Morality In Community: Some Conclusions /J. Braun -- Bibliography /J. Braun -- Index /J. Braun.

These essays are a distillation of Jerome Brauns work in interdisciplinary social science, and especially sociology. Thus they exemplify pragmatic critical theory by dealing with culture and personality, cohesiveness and nihilism in modern societies, and the relation between community and democracy.

Abstract
In this article, I present discussions of conditions for reviving public morale and, in the process, public morality, which would ultimately be a political goal, using examples from the Victorian era in Britain and what Americans refer to as the Progressive Era at the beginning of the twentieth century in the United States. I begin with an older book by Gertrude Himmelfarb that emphasises the revitalisation of public morality in Victorian Britain. A book by Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett makes similar claims for the effects of the Progressive Era in the US, and for how a similar approach could be useful in the present era. Both books emphasise cultural critique and discount the effects of causality going in the opposite direction, starting with economic revival, and I discuss this dilemma in this article.

Résumé L'auteur propose un cadre de réflexion pour comparer la capacité des sociétés contemporaines à garantir l'ordre social et la moralité publique. La comparaison porte essentiellement sur l'Amérique et l'Europe, mais aussi, dans une moindre mesure, sur l'Amérique latine et le monde islamique. L'auteur se réfère également à l'ouvrage d'Alain Touraine Qu'est-ce que la démocratie? afin d'analyser la manière dont la démocratie est perçue dans la France d'aujourd'hui, avant d'examiner le rôle respectif des classes moyennes, en tant qu'arbitres des conflits politiques et sociaux, en Amérique et en Europe. Plus généralement, il s'interroge sur les articulations et les convergences ou les divergences éventuelles entre la démocratie sociale et la démocratie politique, en soulignant les aspects culturels de la production de l'ordre social. Considérant les divers mécanismes qu'utilise chaque société pour préserver un certain équilibre entre le gouvernement central et les collectivités locales, et entre les élites et les masses, il montre que ces différences sont dues à des facteurs culturels mais aussi au degré de bureaucratisation de la société. Enfin, il propose un résumé des motivations prééminentes et des principes de gouvernement correspondant aux différents régimes politiques, inspiré de L'esprit des lois de Montesquieu.