Rediscovery of Society: A Post-pandemic Reality

Description

"A social work pioneer debunks the myth of a Great Society. Embedded in a contrapuntal culture, while societal dysfunctionality and institutional meltdown play havoc with mortals, we stand on the edge of an existential abyss. Humanity confronts its own monsters: Fury of fires, floods; scourges of a pandemic; random mass shootings; and mayhem, not to speak of the ravages of pervasive inequality, injustice, and ubiquity of fear. A culture of falsification, terror, and nihilist narcissism obscures small steps toward progress. The algorithms of change thwart human and social development since structural anomalies breed dysfunctional outcomes. They also manifest contours of frayed institutions in a broken society. The result is paradoxical convulsions of hopeand despair. Once the structure of values erodes, our social-institutional foundation requires transformational renewal. The author calls for a new Social Contract and Enlightenment Two - a movement of reconstruction - in search of a new society. Implicit here is a compelling argument to reinvent homo-sapiens and rediscover the purpose of life i.e., global harmony"-- Contents Foreword References Preface Prologue Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Ideology, Social Contract, and Civil Development* 1. Evolution of an Ideology 2. Contours of Development 3. Toward New Social Development (NSD) Chapter 2 Inequality and Racism in America* 1. Constructs of Creatureliness 2. A Framework: Labyrinths of Ideology, Inequality, and Racism 2.1. Ideology 2.2. Inequality 2.3. Racism 3. Caste as the Primordial Class 4. The Post-Enlightenment Ordeal Chapter 3 Deconstruction of Social Contract 1. Ending the Uncivil War: A Nation in Search of Its Soul 2. Unraveling Whitopia: Contextually, Coates, Kendi, Diangelo, and Rosenstein 3. Pedagogy, Freedom and Tyranny 3.1. Pedagogy and Higher Education Chapter 4 The Pandemic Paroxysm: Meltdown, Hope, and Economy* 1. From Panopticon to “Chronopticon”: The Pandemic Politics 2. The Pandemic Portal 3. Ideology and Institutional Meltdown Chapter 5 Existential Angst and the Plague* 1. Lab-Leak and Doom 2. Loneliness on a Crowded Planet 2.1. Resentment, Anger, and Angst 2.2. Anxiety and Helplessness 2.3. Disproportionate Burden 2.4. Moral Dissonance 2.5. Vaccine Nationalism 2.6. Pandemic Nihilism 2.7. Aloneness 3. Voices of Death: Stench from the Ganges Chapter 6 The Art of Reason* 1. Imagination and Art 1.1. First, Art Is Never a Value-Neutral Act 2. Innovation and Ingenuity 2.1. Second, Reason Opens Doors of Consciousness and Freedom 2.2. Third, The Three I’s: Imagination, Innovation and Ingenuity 3. Unreason in the Age of Reason 3.1. The Crisis of Democracy Chapter 7 Coloniality and Oppression 1. How Did Colonialism Devour Freedom? 2. The Trojan Horse: The East India Company 3. Balkanization and Post-Imperialism Chapter 8 Dialectic of Ambedkarian Praxis 1. Basic Assumptions and Postulates 2. Ambedkar and His World 3. The Ambedkarian Praxis Epilogue The Owl of Minerva Afterword References About the Author Publications Index of Terms Index of Names Blank Page Blank Page