What the neo-liberal focus on rights, markets and self-interest decision making of utilitarian individuals misses is the communitarian idea of attachments and sharing of civil society.
For the communitarians we enter a world of shared institutions that shape our social identity and desires. We find that our fate is tied up with that of the institution, that we are dependent on others and we share a world of common meanings.
This idea of community provides a basis to counter neo-liberalism.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at August 17, 2004 08:19 AM | TrackBackOr, more ideally, we *are* our institutions, and our institutions are us. Erecting a dualism (even if to topple it) of us *versus* institutions is a reification.
Posted by: Brian on August 18, 2004 05:50 AM