Description
Book SynopsisThe Skillful Self: Liberalism, Culture, and the Politics of Skill presents a political liberal theory of cultural participation and the goals of cultural policy in contemporary pluralistic democracies. The ideal of cultural participation, which many regard as central to the self-conception of modern constitutional democracies, is often subject to the distorting influences of state perfectionism, paternalism, consumerism, and ideology. These distortions and the problems they raise are intensified by the forces of social, cultural, and economic globalization. Using the tools of contemporary liberal theory,The Skillful Self develops an approach to the politics of culture that focuses on the concept of skill and its place in a liberal conception of the self. Support for this approach is derived from the work of Nussbaum and Sen, who make a conception of human capability basic to their views of public policy and the design of political institutions. But the politics of skill modifies the
Trade ReviewSkillful Self is an excellent introduction to many contemporary theoretical debates in political theory. Stopford's strength as an author is to place the reader among the debates of contemporary political theory, to bring the reader along Stopford's dialectical back-and-forth development to his own conclusion. At the same time, the book crucially advances the debate over cultural poltiics by arguing that liberal principals of justice must be rooted in a richer conception of the self than what we find in the homo economicus model. * Review of Metaphysics *
This is a book or remarkable breadth and depth. It sets out an examination of political philosophy that spans the North Atlantic, and it shows that in the depths of the common conception of government there is an unattended area that gets filled badly if it isn't filled well. Generically it's called culture, and what John Stopford specifically pleads for is a culture of skill. It's all done in a style that is both brisk and incisive. -- Albert Borgmann, The University of Montana; author of Real American Ethics; author of Holding on to Reality (1999)
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Chapter One. Liberalism, Culture, Cultural Participation Chapter 3 Liberalism and Culture Chapter 4 Cultural Participation Chapter 5 Globalization and Cultural Participation Part 6 Chapter Two. Community, Culture, Autonomy Chapter 7 Community, Justice, Culture Chapter 9 Culture, Context, Autonomy Chapter 10 System, Lifeworld, Expert Chapter 11 The Cultural Conditions of Autonomy Part 12 Chapter Three. Culture and Identity Chapter 13 Politics of Recognition, Politics of Respect Chapter 14 Recognition and the Politics of Hate Chapter 15 The Claims of the Indigenous Part 16 Chapter Four. Education Chapter 17 Education, Diversity, Cultural Competence Chapter 18 Multicultural Reason Chapter 19 Dialog as Reasonableness Part 20 Chapter Five. Skill, Technology, Capability Chapter 21 Skill, the Skillful Self, Deskilling Chapter 22 Liberalism, Technology, Technological Democracy Chapter 23 Capabilities, Resources, Capability Constrained Resourcism Chapter 24 Central Capabilities as Functions of the Skillful Self Part 25 Chapter Six. Politics of Skill Chapter 26 Factors Affecting the Development of the Nonrepresentable Skills Chapter 26 Representable and Nonrepresentable Skills Chapter 27 Conclusion
