Pyramids of Sacrifice: Political Ethics and Social Change

by Peter L. Berger

Used book in good condition, due to its age it could contain normal signs of use

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Economics, Politics

266 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 1974

About the author

Peter L. Berger was an internationally renowned sociologist, and the founder of Boston University's Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. He was born in Vienna and came to the U.S. in his late teens. He had a master's degree and a doctorate from the New School for Social Research in New York. After two years in the United States Army, he taught at the University of Georgia and the University of North Carolina before going to the Hartford Seminary Foundation as an Assistant Professor in Social Ethics.

In 1992, Peter Berger was awarded the Manes Sperber Prize, presented by the Austrian government for significant contributions to culture. He was the author of many books, among them The Social Construction of Reality, The Homeless Mind, and Questions of Faith.

Reviews

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of Berger's first moves away from social theory/sociology of knowledge and towards development research. Some of these earlier themes are present here as well, but the reader interested in Berger's theoretical oeuvre will find little new. I have read somewhere (can't remember the reference) that Talcott Parsons called Berger a leftie after reading this. You would have to be rather blind to do that. Berger's typical Marxism-bashing is not yet prominent here, but despite his fence-sitting attempt, the balance is on capitalism's side. Perhaps it was too early to know all the facts, but slips such as that the Allende regime fell because of its internal contradictions--and not because of a CIA putsch--are either super naive, or wilfully ignorant. Not a very memorable book, and hasn't aged well.

[Lucas Freitas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Great work by Berger. Some of the practical analysis is dated, but his ideas about policies having to deal with the cost of suffering and the cost of meaning are clear-eyed