Description:
These sociologists and theorists, long concerned with the critical role in society of the middle class, trace its historical, structural, and cultural links with democracy since ancient times. They show how the middle class has been instrumental in spawning industrialization and capitalism. They consider the rise and decline of fascism and communism and the development of multinational capitalism. They reflect upon the decline of the working class, the growth of an underclass, and the need today to counterbalance the power of the rich and big business. They ponder how to break an iron cage of bureaucracy and to revitalize democracy. This socio-historical analysis from a neo-Weberian perspective deals with issues that are central to sociologists, political theorists, and historians.
Brief description: Peter Kivisto is the Richard A. Swanson Professor of Social Thought at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and a research fellow at the Università di Trento in Italy. An author or editor of more than twenty-five books, he is a member of the Council of the American Sociological Association.