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Degenerations of Democracy
Three leading thinkers analyze the erosion of democracy’s social foundations and call for a movement to reduce inequality, strengthen inclusive solidarity, empower citizens, and reclaim pursuit of the public good.
Democracy is in trouble. Populism is a common scapegoat but not the root cause. More basic are social and economic transformations eroding the foundations of democracy, ruling elites trying to lock in their own privilege, and cultural perversions like making individualistic freedom the enemy of democracy’s other crucial ideals of equality and solidarity. In Degenerations of Democracy three of our most prominent intellectuals investigate democracy gone awry, locate our points of fracture, and suggest paths to democratic renewal.
In Charles Taylor’s phrase, democracy is a process, not an end state. Taylor documents creeping disempowerment of citizens, failures of inclusion, and widespread efforts to suppress democratic participation, and he calls for renewing community. Craig Calhoun explores the impact of disruption, inequality, and transformation in democracy’s social foundations. He reminds us that democracies depend on republican constitutions as well as popular will, and that solidarity and voice must be achieved at large scales as well as locally.
Taylor and Calhoun together examine how ideals like meritocracy and authenticity have become problems for equality and solidarity, the need for stronger articulation of the idea of public good, and the challenges of thinking big without always thinking centralization.
Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar points out that even well-designed institutions will not integrate everyone, and inequality and precarity make matters worse. He calls for democracies to be prepared for violence and disorder at their margins―and to treat them with justice, not oppression.
The authors call for bold action building on projects like Black Lives Matter and the Green New Deal. Policy is not enough to save democracy; it will take movements.
Democracy is in trouble. Populism is a common scapegoat but not the root cause. More basic are social and economic transformations eroding the foundations of democracy, ruling elites trying to lock in their own privilege, and cultural perversions like making individualistic freedom the enemy of democracy’s other crucial ideals of equality and solidarity. In Degenerations of Democracy three of our most prominent intellectuals investigate democracy gone awry, locate our points of fracture, and suggest paths to democratic renewal.
In Charles Taylor’s phrase, democracy is a process, not an end state. Taylor documents creeping disempowerment of citizens, failures of inclusion, and widespread efforts to suppress democratic participation, and he calls for renewing community. Craig Calhoun explores the impact of disruption, inequality, and transformation in democracy’s social foundations. He reminds us that democracies depend on republican constitutions as well as popular will, and that solidarity and voice must be achieved at large scales as well as locally.
Taylor and Calhoun together examine how ideals like meritocracy and authenticity have become problems for equality and solidarity, the need for stronger articulation of the idea of public good, and the challenges of thinking big without always thinking centralization.
Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar points out that even well-designed institutions will not integrate everyone, and inequality and precarity make matters worse. He calls for democracies to be prepared for violence and disorder at their margins―and to treat them with justice, not oppression.
The authors call for bold action building on projects like Black Lives Matter and the Green New Deal. Policy is not enough to save democracy; it will take movements.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published May 17, 2022
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140 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 21, 2021
Degenerations of Democracy is a much-needed book and is essential for anyone who wants to repair democracy, both in individual nations and more broadly speaking as a desired form of government.
While detailed and academic it is also very accessible. The explanations of where we are, how and why we got here, and what we can do to try to improve democracy(s) moving forward are best approached in a considered manner. The writing is largely quite readable which might make you want to quickly read and get to the prescriptive parts. But those discussions, the details about what has gotten us here, really need to be understood before getting to what we can do. It isn't about policy, it is about movements, it is (and has always been) about process not rigid guidelines.
Because of the current moment many on the right might feel singled out, but if you read carefully there is enough blame to go around for why we have degenerated to the extent we have. If this were written at some other time the bulk of the contemporary criticism would fall more heavily on the left. What I am saying is this: if you want to live in a democracy, an actual democracy, then read this book and rather than get mad when you recognize yourself or your segment of the population, learn from it. I am a leftist and I had several kneejerk reactions, so everyone should have multiple chances to reflect as well as to blame others. Ultimately, every reader needs to decide first if they want a democracy and, if you do, look at what can be done.
I am adding this to a list of books I intend to reread sooner than I usually reread a book. I would suggest the same to others. I want to give everything a week or two to sink in, then read it again to catch the things I likely missed the first time.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
While detailed and academic it is also very accessible. The explanations of where we are, how and why we got here, and what we can do to try to improve democracy(s) moving forward are best approached in a considered manner. The writing is largely quite readable which might make you want to quickly read and get to the prescriptive parts. But those discussions, the details about what has gotten us here, really need to be understood before getting to what we can do. It isn't about policy, it is about movements, it is (and has always been) about process not rigid guidelines.
Because of the current moment many on the right might feel singled out, but if you read carefully there is enough blame to go around for why we have degenerated to the extent we have. If this were written at some other time the bulk of the contemporary criticism would fall more heavily on the left. What I am saying is this: if you want to live in a democracy, an actual democracy, then read this book and rather than get mad when you recognize yourself or your segment of the population, learn from it. I am a leftist and I had several kneejerk reactions, so everyone should have multiple chances to reflect as well as to blame others. Ultimately, every reader needs to decide first if they want a democracy and, if you do, look at what can be done.
I am adding this to a list of books I intend to reread sooner than I usually reread a book. I would suggest the same to others. I want to give everything a week or two to sink in, then read it again to catch the things I likely missed the first time.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
January 25, 2022
I liked this book, and was initially interested in it because the topic is very relevant. I think that the authors did a good job laying out their arguments clearly, and specifically, the way they lay out populism and how it's often misunderstood was a good takeaway. The writing style is academic but not too dense, however maybe for that reason there were parts that I felt dragged just a little. So in sum, this is a book that deals with an important topic with a clear perspective but there are certainly academic books out there that I have read and enjoyed the writing style of more.
August 8, 2025
The ways people structure the processes by which they live together for their common good is an important, and too often ignored these days, dimension of cultivating a flourishing community. Craig Calhoun, Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, and Charles Taylor take a deep dive into the project of democracy and the ways it is being undermined, especially from within. This book is a challenging but worthwhile read if you are at all concerned about the three key qualities of democracy that Taylor posits in the opening section of the book – liberty, equality, and solidarity. The authors analyze the forces that are undermining these values and propose an intriguing way to renew the democratic project grounded in these values.
They trace the disempowerment of citizens in both their political and social lives. Citizens are losing their freedom to have an effective voice in the dynamics that shape their lives. Further, they document the growing inequalities in access to the decision-making processes of nations claiming to be democracies and in the broadening income gaps that deny basic needs and access to an increasing number of citizens. Further still, they clarify the ways in which social solidarity, a sense of being a significant part of a mutually-beneficial project, has eroded in an age of individualism and materialism, picking up on Taylor’s work on secularism. Many groups within the Western countries upon which they focus feel excluded and denied access to effective participation and contribution, as well as to sharing in the wealth being generated.
The kind of polarization that has emerged from these dynamics involves not simply differences of opinion, but fundamentally different ways of seeing the world and understanding the common good.
Much of the concerned analysis in the book focuses on the United States and the current dynamics related to the rise of Trumpism. Published in 2022, the book does not address the intensification of the agenda of the Heritage Foundation under Trump 2.0, but the trajectories of the degenerations were all there earlier. Of crucial importance in this take-over of democratic norms and institutions is the claim to be representing “majority rule.” The slide into “majority rule,” most evident recent rigging of democracies in Hungary and Turkey, is a disaster, according to the authors:
"It introduces a ruthlessness into political life. It divides and poisons the public sphere. It renders society much less capable of dealing with the big common challenges that affect both sides of the division equally, challenges such as global warming and the negative effects of globalization and automation." (p.46)
It involves the exclusion of all opponents from being legitimate members of “the people.”
In a concise paragraph, the authors state the essence of their case:
"Democracy is not what a majority at this moment or that happens to want. It is a project of greater empowerment and inclusion, liberty, equality, and solidarity for the future." (p.47)
Among the rich treasure-trove of insights and inspirations I found in this book, one stood out for me. The authors drew it from the work of British journalist David Goodhart in his book, The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics (2017). It is the distinction between “Anywheres” and “Somewheres.” The latter term applies to people who remain in and are attached to their communities of birth. The former applies to people for whom making a living requires them to leave home and often move frequently. They go away and give up being grounded in a place in order to succeed in the world of increasing mobility driven by neoliberalism and globalization. That dynamic has a profound effect on any sense of social solidarity and commonality, a condition the authors believe is an essential condition of good democracy.
That’s their source of hope in our age of degenerations and disfigurations of democracy. It’s the recovery, recuperating, and renewing of a deep sense of “social solidarity,” of “shared political identity,” and “a common destiny.” (p.218) This is showing up in a wide variety of social movements that are imagining new projects to revive democracy, to build new institutions, to provide mutual support, and to reweave the tattered fabric of our flourishing. They urge that these movements recognize the complex interdependencies of the factors at play and that they seek improvements through repeated revisions. They suggest a “New Green Deal” would be a good start, but “only a start.” (p.256)
Among the organizations the authors list as having the potential to renew a constructive practice of community is the church. As someone rooted in the Canadian Presbyterian branch of the Christian church, that inclusion intrigues me. They don’t go into the particular potential of the church, but let me offer a couple of brief suggestions.
First, for my branch of the Christian church, there is a stated prime principle of how we will govern our life together in missioning for the gospel. It dates back to 1578 and is drawn from The Second Book of Discipline that emerged in the Scottish Reformation. In order “to take away all occasion of tyranny,” the polity/politics of the church were to ensure full participation to ensure full responsibility. Over the years, our practices have suffered similar degenerations and disfigurations that this book details. The church has been sadly complicit in supporting much of the erosion of democratic principles in our ways of living together. But the ideal trajectory in which our improvements can move remains. The church can be a place/space where that is nurtured to flourish.
Second, again for my branch of the Christian church, we consider the great affirmation of the Christian gospel to be that our Creator was in their Christ/Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, forgiving and reconciling the world to its original purpose of being a commonwealth of benefits. We are gifted with the privilege of being ambassadors of that message (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). That commonwealth, as I see it, is characterized by the virtues of democracy as detailed in this book. The church can be a place/space where those virtues are nourished to flourish.
I will conclude this review with the eloquent paragraph that concludes the book:
"We offer this book as a plea for democracy, renewing the French Revolution’s great call for liberty, equality, and solidarity. This entails political action in the strongest and best senses. Instead of narrowing ideas of democracy to fit into formal politics, we should expand our ideas of politics to take up citizen empowerment, social and cultural inclusion, and pursuing the public good rather than temporary victories for polarized factions. Politics must be poiesis, working together to make and remake not just government but also society itself." (p.286)
They trace the disempowerment of citizens in both their political and social lives. Citizens are losing their freedom to have an effective voice in the dynamics that shape their lives. Further, they document the growing inequalities in access to the decision-making processes of nations claiming to be democracies and in the broadening income gaps that deny basic needs and access to an increasing number of citizens. Further still, they clarify the ways in which social solidarity, a sense of being a significant part of a mutually-beneficial project, has eroded in an age of individualism and materialism, picking up on Taylor’s work on secularism. Many groups within the Western countries upon which they focus feel excluded and denied access to effective participation and contribution, as well as to sharing in the wealth being generated.
The kind of polarization that has emerged from these dynamics involves not simply differences of opinion, but fundamentally different ways of seeing the world and understanding the common good.
Much of the concerned analysis in the book focuses on the United States and the current dynamics related to the rise of Trumpism. Published in 2022, the book does not address the intensification of the agenda of the Heritage Foundation under Trump 2.0, but the trajectories of the degenerations were all there earlier. Of crucial importance in this take-over of democratic norms and institutions is the claim to be representing “majority rule.” The slide into “majority rule,” most evident recent rigging of democracies in Hungary and Turkey, is a disaster, according to the authors:
"It introduces a ruthlessness into political life. It divides and poisons the public sphere. It renders society much less capable of dealing with the big common challenges that affect both sides of the division equally, challenges such as global warming and the negative effects of globalization and automation." (p.46)
It involves the exclusion of all opponents from being legitimate members of “the people.”
In a concise paragraph, the authors state the essence of their case:
"Democracy is not what a majority at this moment or that happens to want. It is a project of greater empowerment and inclusion, liberty, equality, and solidarity for the future." (p.47)
Among the rich treasure-trove of insights and inspirations I found in this book, one stood out for me. The authors drew it from the work of British journalist David Goodhart in his book, The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics (2017). It is the distinction between “Anywheres” and “Somewheres.” The latter term applies to people who remain in and are attached to their communities of birth. The former applies to people for whom making a living requires them to leave home and often move frequently. They go away and give up being grounded in a place in order to succeed in the world of increasing mobility driven by neoliberalism and globalization. That dynamic has a profound effect on any sense of social solidarity and commonality, a condition the authors believe is an essential condition of good democracy.
That’s their source of hope in our age of degenerations and disfigurations of democracy. It’s the recovery, recuperating, and renewing of a deep sense of “social solidarity,” of “shared political identity,” and “a common destiny.” (p.218) This is showing up in a wide variety of social movements that are imagining new projects to revive democracy, to build new institutions, to provide mutual support, and to reweave the tattered fabric of our flourishing. They urge that these movements recognize the complex interdependencies of the factors at play and that they seek improvements through repeated revisions. They suggest a “New Green Deal” would be a good start, but “only a start.” (p.256)
Among the organizations the authors list as having the potential to renew a constructive practice of community is the church. As someone rooted in the Canadian Presbyterian branch of the Christian church, that inclusion intrigues me. They don’t go into the particular potential of the church, but let me offer a couple of brief suggestions.
First, for my branch of the Christian church, there is a stated prime principle of how we will govern our life together in missioning for the gospel. It dates back to 1578 and is drawn from The Second Book of Discipline that emerged in the Scottish Reformation. In order “to take away all occasion of tyranny,” the polity/politics of the church were to ensure full participation to ensure full responsibility. Over the years, our practices have suffered similar degenerations and disfigurations that this book details. The church has been sadly complicit in supporting much of the erosion of democratic principles in our ways of living together. But the ideal trajectory in which our improvements can move remains. The church can be a place/space where that is nurtured to flourish.
Second, again for my branch of the Christian church, we consider the great affirmation of the Christian gospel to be that our Creator was in their Christ/Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, forgiving and reconciling the world to its original purpose of being a commonwealth of benefits. We are gifted with the privilege of being ambassadors of that message (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). That commonwealth, as I see it, is characterized by the virtues of democracy as detailed in this book. The church can be a place/space where those virtues are nourished to flourish.
I will conclude this review with the eloquent paragraph that concludes the book:
"We offer this book as a plea for democracy, renewing the French Revolution’s great call for liberty, equality, and solidarity. This entails political action in the strongest and best senses. Instead of narrowing ideas of democracy to fit into formal politics, we should expand our ideas of politics to take up citizen empowerment, social and cultural inclusion, and pursuing the public good rather than temporary victories for polarized factions. Politics must be poiesis, working together to make and remake not just government but also society itself." (p.286)
January 7, 2024
The three authors, sociology experts on the topic discussed, present a great and valuable analysis of frameworks that help to understand modern Western (liberal democracy-based) societies. It is undeniable that our societies have shifted in the last 50 years: there is a rising gap between rich and poor, and inequality has become visible and palpable, the consequence of which is a rampant loss of societal solidarity and a new focus on individualism. Under the circumstances, democracy suffers. Many observers have sensed this centrifugal set of forces in our society: the victims of which are "liberty, equality and solidarity".
How can our societies come back to promote democracy again, worship it in words and more importantly even in deeds? The discussions in this bright and masterly written book are insightful, at times a slight hope is generated that the current trends could be turned around, and reversed to "status ante quo" modalities. Some of the visions developed actually offer hope and other scenarios are less pleasing.
The final conclusion: One of the best sociological books I have read recently on this topic. It is very analytical but also sharp at the same time, and the authors put key questions, one being "Are we moving away from democracy", and "Is there hopefulness left", if so, what would be value-based pathways to develop and actions to implement in societies interested in preserving democratic frameworks, today - as the world has become complex, complicated, and the economic and financial tissues largely globalised.
How can our societies come back to promote democracy again, worship it in words and more importantly even in deeds? The discussions in this bright and masterly written book are insightful, at times a slight hope is generated that the current trends could be turned around, and reversed to "status ante quo" modalities. Some of the visions developed actually offer hope and other scenarios are less pleasing.
The final conclusion: One of the best sociological books I have read recently on this topic. It is very analytical but also sharp at the same time, and the authors put key questions, one being "Are we moving away from democracy", and "Is there hopefulness left", if so, what would be value-based pathways to develop and actions to implement in societies interested in preserving democratic frameworks, today - as the world has become complex, complicated, and the economic and financial tissues largely globalised.
July 4, 2024
An astounding read and a rare combination of political theory, history of political thought, and contemporary commentary. Easily my favorite book from 2022.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews