Includes bibliographical references (pages 405-409) and index.

"The twentieth century witnessed a profound shift in both socialism and social reform. In the early 1900s, social reform seemed to offer a veritable religion of redemption, but by the century's end, while socialism remained a vibrant force in European society, a culture of extreme individualism and consumption all but squeezed the welfare state out of existence. Documenting this historic change, After Progress: American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century is the first truly comprehensive look at the course of social reform and Western politics after communism, brilliantly explained by a major social thinker of our time." "Norman Birnbaum traces in detail the forces that have shifted social concern over the course of a century, from the devastation of two world wars, to the postwar golden age of economic growth and democracy, to the ever-increasing dominance of the market. He makes sense of the historical trends that have created a climate in which politicians proclaim the arrival of a new historical epoch but rarely offer solutions to social problems that get beyond cost-benefit analyses. Birnbaum goes one step further and proposes a strategy for bringing the market back into balance with the social needs of the people. He advocates a reconsideration of the notion of work, urges that market forces be brought under political control, and stresses the need for education that teaches the rights and responsibilities of citizenship."--Jacket.

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