Modern Pluralism Anglo-American Debates since 1880

Pluralism is among the most vital intellectual movements of the modern era. Liberal pluralism helped reinforce and promote greater separation of political and religious spheres. Socialist pluralism promoted the political role of trade unions and the rise of corporatism. Empirical pluralism helped legitimate the role of interest groups in democratic government. Today pluralism inspires thinking about key issues such as multiculturalism and network governance. However, despite pluralism's importance, there are no histories of twentieth-century pluralist thinking. Modern Pluralism fills this gap. It explores liberal, socialist, and empirical ideas about diversity in Britain and the United States. It shows how pluralists challenged homogenous nations and sovereign states, often promoting sub-national groups as potential sites of self-government. In it, intellectual historians, political theorists, and social scientists collectively explore the historical background to present institutions and debates. The book serves to enrich our understanding of the history of pluralism and its continuing relevance.

1. A history of modern pluralism Mark Bevir; 2. From liberal constitutionalism to pluralism Jacob T. Levy; 3. Guild socialism Marc Stears; 4. Pluralism and method at the turn of the century Avigail Eisenberg; 5. Value pluralism in twentieth-century Anglo-American thought Jan-Werner Müller; 6. Corporatism and its discontents: pluralism, anti-pluralism and Anglo-American industrial relations, c.1930–80 Ben Jackson; 7. The rise and fall of the democratic dogma and the emergence of empirical democratic theory John G. Gunnell; 8. Liberalism, pluralism, multiculturalism: contemporary debates Ruth Abbey; 9. The revival of radical pluralism: associationism and difference Mark Bevir and Toby Reiner; 10. Beyond pluralism? Corporatism, globalization, and the dilemmas of democratic governance Robert Adcock and Mark Vail.

Pluralism is among the most vital intellectual movements of the modern era. This book provides the first history of twentieth-century pluralist thinking. It explores liberal, socialist and empirical ideas about diversity, showing how pluralists challenged homogenous nations and sovereign states, often promoting sub-national groups as potential sites of self-government.

Mark Bevir is a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His publications include The Making of British Socialism (2011), Democratic Governance (2010) and Markets in Historical Contexts: Ideas and Politics in the Modern World edited with Frank Trentmann (2004, 2007).