The American Dream in the Information Age - by Otto Newman & R De Zoysa & Richard de Zoysa (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

America's current transformation from an industrial to a new information-based culture presents new challenges as well as new perspectives on old debates. This book offers a comprehensive survey of America's changing values. It examines notions of American exceptionalism and how the 'melting pot' is coping with race relations and changing demographics; it assesses the agenda of government, the domestic and global constraints, and how social exclusion can be tackled. Current changes in the US are likely to be a harbinger for other societies, and the authors examine new models of civic society, of learning and of reconfiguring social values for a fast-changing world.

Review Quotes

'In The American Dream in the Information Age Otto Newman and Richard de Zoysa offer us an engaging and excellent analysis of contemporary American political culture. It is simultaneously a unique window on the profound changes and forces that shape the American political world and an inventive synthesis of ideas that help us to understand what is happening.' - Jane Elizabeth Decker, Associate Dean and Professor, University of Washington, Bothell

The American Dream in the Information Age by Otto Newman and Richard de Zoysa, breaks new ground and is sure to set off a debate in the U.S. about the importance of information technology, the distribution of income and wealth, and the nature of work itself. While these British scholars see much to commend in American life, they also see some serious problems that need attending to. The increasing inequality in income and wealth, the increasing tenuousness and instability of work, and the increasing marginalization of poor minorities, do not augur well for the American Dream. However, Newman and de Zoysa suggest that these problems can be addressed by a rapid progression towards machine intelligence (leading to the overcoming of scarcity), by a redistribution of income and wealth, by an equalization of access to work (via a voucher system), and by a transition towards a Convivial Society' where material pursuit is matched by an emphasis on self-fulfillment and the enhancement of disposable time.' - Charles F. Hohm, Professor of Sociology, San Diego State University & Editor, Sociological Perspectives

About the Author

OTTO NEWMAN is Adjunct Professor of Sociology at San Diego State University, where he has worked since 1987. He was previously Chair of the Department of Social Sciences at South Bank University, London, from 1970 to 1987 and Lecturer at Stirling University, Scotland, from 1968 to 1970. He is author of Gambling: Hazard and Reward; The Challenge of Corporatism; and numerous articles, research reports and reviews. He was an executive of the British Sociological Association.

RICHARD DE ZOYSA is Senior Lecturer in Politics at South Bank University, London. He has held previous appointments in Sweden, the United States and has lectured at the Sorbonne in Paris. He has published in India, Sweden, the USA and the UK.