An American Dilemma: The Urgency of Recovering Social Hope
The standard political diagnosis suggests that America is divided against itself, and that widespread anger and frustration prevent the necessary community coherence that will bring about the urgent recovery of social hope. In this course, Professor Daniel Bromley will challenge this bleak narrative of widespread hostility. He will offer a more carefully researched account of the underlying defects in our political life. This necessary reconsideration will suggest that the more meaningful diagnosis is one of resignation over the loss of social hope. The distinction is important.
A narrative of anger and frustration invites constant finger pointing, the fixing of blame, the specification of enemies as distinct from allies, and several other divisive strategies. On the other hand, despair over lost social hope is a shared sentiment that invites communication and collective deliberation along the lines of “What exactly has gone wrong, and why?” From that start, the obvious next steps concern correcting the lingering and annoying problems.
The lectures and discussions will offer a careful development of causes and reasons for the loss of social hope. The course will also present a set of specific remedies that seem to offer relief from the despair. Most importantly, the course will focus on the necessary ways to think about and understand the loss of social hope. That diagnostic imperative is the only way to arrive at meaningful corrective actions and policies.
The instructor, Professor Daniel W. Bromley is an American economist, the former Anderson-Bascom Professor of applied economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and since 2009, Emeritus Professor. His research in institutional economics explains the foundations of property rights, natural resources and the environment; and economic development.
Professor Bromley has published many outstanding books, the most recent of which is Possessive Individualism – A Crisis of Capitalism (2019). He is Editor of the scholarly journal Land Economics. He has worked in over 20 countries on problems of economic development, environmental policy, and the institutional foundation of markets. He has been editor of the journal Land Economics since 1974.
Instructor: Professor Daniel W. Bromley
Dates: Thursdays – 2/06, 2/13, 2/20, 2/27, 3/06, 3/13, 3/20, 3/27
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET
Location: Online via Zoom
Note: This is an online event. After registration, the Zoom link, along with the Meeting ID and Passcode, will be provided via email the day of each session.
