The Question of Privacy in Public Policy - by David Sadofsky & David Baggins (Hardcover)

About the Book

This study examines the role of privacy in American political thought, specifically, the rise, implementation, and consequences of the conservative social policies of the Reagan-Bush era as they relate to the question of privacy. In particular, the work focuses on some of the high-profile social issues of that period: the War on Drugs, so-called family values, abortion, sexuality, and discrimination. Sadofsky concludes that privacy-invasive public policies such as were initiated in the Reagan-Bush years are expensive, defy the Constitution, and actually cause dysfunctional social behavior. He also suggests that social behavior in the 1960s did much to create a wave of intolerance in the 1980s, and that progressivism requires a return to the morality of tolerance.

Book Synopsis

This study examines the role of privacy in American political thought, specifically, the rise, implementation, and consequences of the conservative social policies of the Reagan-Bush era as they relate to the question of privacy. In particular, the work focuses on some of the high-profile social issues of that period: the War on Drugs, so-called family values, abortion, sexuality, and discrimination. Sadofsky concludes that privacy-invasive public policies such as were initiated in the Reagan-Bush years are expensive, defy the Constitution, and actually cause dysfunctional social behavior. He also suggests that social behavior in the 1960s did much to create a wave of intolerance in the 1980s, and that progressivism requires a return to the morality of tolerance.

Review Quotes

?This is an excellent book on the topic of personal privacy and public policy. Students of public policy, the judiciary, political theory, and those interested in one or several of the policy issues covered will find this book of great use.?-Perspectives on Political Science

"This is an excellent book on the topic of personal privacy and public policy. Students of public policy, the judiciary, political theory, and those interested in one or several of the policy issues covered will find this book of great use."-Perspectives on Political Science

About the Author

DAVID SADOFSKY is Associate Professor of Political Science at California State University at Hayward. He is the author of Knowledge as Power: Political and Legal Control of Information (Praeger, 1990).