Opposing the System

by Charles A. Reich

By the author of "The Greening of America", this text argues that western civilization is beset by a malady that has much in common with the crisis of the natural environment. Occidental man is suffering from a depletion of the human habitat and human values by the same forces that are destroying nature. But the destruction of the human habitat is much more insidious, obvious only in symptoms such as the weakening economy, violence and crime, the decline of happiness and meaning. To combat this, Reich proposes a twofold society must set new constitutional limits on the system and replenish the values which have been lost. Through a radical and detailed reorganization of its sexual and political mores, Reich argues, the future of the west can be one where individuals may prosper and society itself will benefit.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 1995

About the author

Charles Alan Reich was an American academic and writer best known for writing the 1970 book The Greening of America, a paean to the counterculture of the 1960s.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

In chapter one, I read this:

There is a very real danger that those now in control will drive us straight off a cliff. Undeterred by mounting evidence of impending social catastrophe, they may bring about such dangerous inequality, such widespread insecurity, and such massive damage to the natural and human habitat that the deprived and dispossessed will wreak havoc in return.

What boggles my mind is that this book was written in 1995. Charles Reich saw then what we have become even more of. He pretty much write that when you boil everything of value down to its economic value, it is bad for society and humanity. what he couldn't have seen yet was the fracturing of our culture by the various peg holes of entertainment, education, and careers that we end up inhabiting due to the infinite varieties of the internet offering and unabated greed.