Decadence and Objectivity

Haworth's concerns are urgent. Modern society, he argues, threatens to collapse under the burden of mindless growth. Its demands have begun to exhaust the world's resources. The pursuit of growth has hollowed out our social foundations. Advanced technology has emancipated us from toil but condemned us to work that is perceived as meaningless. The dissolution of traditional communities has resulted in a society which has no sense of common concern or public purpose. Most people live largely in private spheres, and value the public sphere only for its capacity to improve their private lives, a function which is exercised unevenly and is largely incidental to its purpose. Modern urban society is characterized by its 'decadence,' a pervasive lack of inspiring vision.

In this book Haworth concerns himself with the conceptual foundations of social order and the options for a future society. He analyses two sharply contrasting systems, the one committed to individual satisfaction and independence and the other based on collective values and rewards. Both would retain advanced technology but restrain consumption. The leisure-oriented society would reduce the hours of work at a sacrifice of efficiency and at the expense of individual determination. This analysis provides the basis for a new model of what Haworth calls an 'objective' society, based on the ideals of responsibility, leisureliness, and professionalism.

These ideals imply a sympathetic yet not strictly custodial attitude towards the natural world, a responsible use of human creativity and natural potential, a sense of absorption in the present (in the original Greek sense of leisure which is contrasted with the more recent association of leisure with discretionary time), and above all a sense of professional commitment. Commitment links individuals who locate the point of their lives outside themselves and their private interests in some work for which they have a distinctive talent and in the pursuit of which they experience a meaningful, shared existence.

Lawrence Howarth offers a model, not a blueprint, but it is one that political scientists, economists, sociologists, urban planners, and all who are committed to improving the design of our society should consider carefully.