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Cultural Pessimism : Narratives of Decline in the Postmodern World / Oliver Bennett.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2022]Copyright date: ©2001Description: 1 online resource (224 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780748609369
  • 9781474464345
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 909.82 22
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Environmental Decline -- 2. Moral Decline: Warfare, Human Rights and the Crime Explosion -- 3. Intellectual Decline: Science and Art -- 4. Political Decline: The 'New' Capitalism -- 5. Cultural Pessimism -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: Cultural pessimism arises with the conviction that the culture of a nation, a civilisation or of humanity itself is in a process of irreversible decline. In an incisive and wide-ranging analysis, Cultural Pessimism: Narratives of Decline in the Postmodern World charts the growth of pessimism in the West during the last decades of the twentieth century.Drawing on studies from within a very broad range of fields, which include ecology, human rights, military history, international relations, criminology, history of science, cultural criticism and political economy, the author shows how cultural pessimism in the postmodern world can be related to the cumulative effect of four key narratives of decline:Environmental declineMoral decline Intellectual decline Political declineAfter a review of pessimism in other historical periods, each of these narratives is explored in depth. The book attempts to answer a number of questions: how are the narratives constituted and what are the conditions to which they refer? To what extent are those conditions historically unprecedented? To which cultures do the narratives relate? What values do they reflect? To what extent are the identified processes of decline seen as irreversible? Concluding that cultural pessimism is as much a matter of psychological and biological disposition as of intellectual judgement, Oliver Bennett's challenging book offers valuable new insights into how we view the prospects of the twenty-first century.Key FeaturesProvides an authoritative account of how the postmodern world has been represented as one of decline. Brings together different perspectives kept apart by professional and academic specialisation Views culture in its broadest sense as 'a whole way of life' Provides an historical overview of cultural pessimism, tracing its various manifestations from the modern period back to its existence in early religions Examines the biological, psychological and sociological factors that can produce a disposition towards cultural pessimismWritten in a clear, readable style, whilst maintaining academic integrity
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Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781474464345

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Environmental Decline -- 2. Moral Decline: Warfare, Human Rights and the Crime Explosion -- 3. Intellectual Decline: Science and Art -- 4. Political Decline: The 'New' Capitalism -- 5. Cultural Pessimism -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Cultural pessimism arises with the conviction that the culture of a nation, a civilisation or of humanity itself is in a process of irreversible decline. In an incisive and wide-ranging analysis, Cultural Pessimism: Narratives of Decline in the Postmodern World charts the growth of pessimism in the West during the last decades of the twentieth century.Drawing on studies from within a very broad range of fields, which include ecology, human rights, military history, international relations, criminology, history of science, cultural criticism and political economy, the author shows how cultural pessimism in the postmodern world can be related to the cumulative effect of four key narratives of decline:Environmental declineMoral decline Intellectual decline Political declineAfter a review of pessimism in other historical periods, each of these narratives is explored in depth. The book attempts to answer a number of questions: how are the narratives constituted and what are the conditions to which they refer? To what extent are those conditions historically unprecedented? To which cultures do the narratives relate? What values do they reflect? To what extent are the identified processes of decline seen as irreversible? Concluding that cultural pessimism is as much a matter of psychological and biological disposition as of intellectual judgement, Oliver Bennett's challenging book offers valuable new insights into how we view the prospects of the twenty-first century.Key FeaturesProvides an authoritative account of how the postmodern world has been represented as one of decline. Brings together different perspectives kept apart by professional and academic specialisation Views culture in its broadest sense as 'a whole way of life' Provides an historical overview of cultural pessimism, tracing its various manifestations from the modern period back to its existence in early religions Examines the biological, psychological and sociological factors that can produce a disposition towards cultural pessimismWritten in a clear, readable style, whilst maintaining academic integrity

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)