Postures and Politics : : Some observations on participatory democracy / / Frank MacKinnon.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: MacKinnon, Frank,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2020]; ©1973
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

Frank MacKinnon is an urbane observer of the human condition. He believes in participatory democracy, but does not think that it or any other system will work if it is put on an ideological pedestal -- or if its limitations are not discussed frankly, and then remedied effectively. In the opening chapters he describes in general ways the positions and strategies adopted today by people with various kinds of powers. He then examines in considerable detail several of man's major institutions -- governments and professions, churches, universities, and cultural bodies. Some of his conclusions are: - Man has become very theoretical- Man tends to take dogmatic positions based on his theories, so that social action becomes a contest rather than a dialogue -- a relationship among theories and institutions often rendered unintelligible by jargon and unworkable by regulation, rather than a communication among men. - Man fancies administration and devotes much energy to entangling himself in his own red tape, often with fatal results- Man allows himself to waste his talents and the world's resources- Man can obviously afford to do none of those things The remedy which Professor MacKinnon proposes is the re-introduction into the affairs of man of colour and culture. These, he argues, are not only the most practical of political instruments, but the only consistently successful means of communication among men of all races throughout all time.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Introduction: Flourishes and participations -- 2. Must democracy be drab? -- 3. Preventive politics -- 4. Crown and Valhalla -- 5. Conflicting postures in administration -- 6. Eccentricity in administration -- 7. Collectivized postures -- 8. Meddling -- 9. Principles -- 10. Church politics -- 11. The impact of church politics -- 12. The personnel of universities -- 13. Campus politics -- 14. The politics of culture -- 15. The state and culture -- 16. Man’s only unlimited asset -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index