Can social order be maintained in a stateless society? Is anarchy
viable? The contention of this book is that stateless social order is
possible only if relations between people are those characteristic of
community. Rejecting the libertarian argument that the goods and
services which make up 'social order' can be provided by private firms
competing in the marketplace, and the liberal argument that because
social order is a public good its maintenance requires the state,
Michael Taylor goes on to examine the methods actually used to
maintain order in anarchic and quasi-anarchic societies and shows how
these methods can be effective only in a small and stable community.
Community in turn requires a rough economic equality. But according to
a traditional argument (recently revitalised by Robert Nozick), no
equality would survive for long without state interference - so that
communitarian anarchy must break down. Here this argument is shown to
be fallacious: the development of gross inequality can be prevented in
an anarchic community. At the same time, the small community is not
portrayed as continuously harmonious, free from constraint and
coercion - the contention is rather that community is necessary if we
are to live without the state or substantially reduce its role. But
community is defended against the charge of being incompatible with
individual liberty. That claim is shown to be no more accurate than
the opposite and equally simple assumption, that liberty is possible
only in community. For evidence and illustration, the book draws on
the experience of stateless primitive societies, peasant communities
and utopian and other 'intentional' communities. It sets a new
standard of clarity and rigour for theoretical studies in anarchism
and will interest a wide range of readers, including political
theorists, political anthropologists and sociologists, and anyone
concerned with the justification of the state.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780511867774
Publisert
2013
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Cambridge University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter