Moral Sentiments in Modern Society - A New Answer to Classical Questions

Since the time of Adam Smith, scholars have tried to understand the role moral sentiments play in modern life, an issue that became especially urgent during and after the 2008 global financial crisis. Previous explanations have ranged from the idea that modern society is built on moral values to the notion that modernisation results in moral decay. The essays in this interdisciplinary volume use the example of Dutch society and a wealth of empirical data to propose a novel theory about the ambivalent relation between contemporary life and human nature. In the process, the contributors argue for the need to reject simplistic explanations and reinvent civil society.

List of contents

1. The question: from Adam Smith to our days[-]2. Theoretical perspectives on modernization[-]3. Introduction to Dutch society: Liquid modernity[-]4. Symptoms of moral erosion: nuisance and violence[-]5. Ordinary people and their highest ideals[-]6. Modernization and the change of values[-]7. Moral behaviour and professional life[-]8. Moral sentiments and social imagination[-]9. The moral healing of modern wounds[-]10. Dutch society in the European context[-]11. Modern society and moral defence[-]12. Conclusion: Reinventing civil society[-]

Product details

• Authors: Gabriel Van Den Brink, Prof. Dr. Gabriel Van Den Brink, Brink Gabriel Van Den
• Assisted by: Gabriel Van Den Brink (Editor), Gabriël van den Brink (Editor), Gabriel Van Den Brink (Editor), Gioia Marini (Translation)
• Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 29.02.2016
• EAN: 9789089647757
• ISBN: 978-90-8964-775-7
• No. of pages: 492
• Series: Amsterdam University Press
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories