
Human Rights And The Search For Community
Rhoda Howard-hassmann(Author)
Westview Press Inc
1st Edition
Published on 6. October 1995
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-0-8133-2579-8 (ISBN)
Description
Some critics contend that the concept of universal human rights reflects the West's anticommunitarian, self-centreed individualism, which disproportionately focuses on individual autonomy. In this book Rhoda Howard-Hassmann refutes this claim, arguing instead that communities can exist in modern Western societies if they protect the whole spectrum of individual human rights, not only civil and political but also economic rights.Howard-Hassmann supports the case for the universality of human rights by showing community to be inherent in and essential to the realization of universal human rights. She makes an original contribution to the study of universal human rights through her review of those types of communitarian thought that underlie cultural relativist attacks on human rights. Howard-Hassmann defends individual rights against conservative and leftist communitarian challenges emanating from both the Western world and the Third World. Exploring conservative viewpoints, she examines traditionalists of the Third World,focusing on African and Muslim traditionalist schools, as well as reactionary conservatives of the Western world. Howard-Hassmann then looks at challenges from the left, including collectivists, who see universal human rights as the products of cultural imperialism or capitalist exploitation, and status radicals, such as feminists or black activists, who are critics of liberalism.Howard-Hassmann also criticizes what she dubs radical capitalism" or social minimalism," the idea that there is a very narrow range of true human rights, including the right to property, and that citizens are responsible for no one but themselves. A community, in Howard-Hassmann's view, is a group of people who all feel a sense of obligation to all others in the group. For a community to work in the modern world, everyone must be treated equally, enjoy societal respect, and be able to act autonomously in her or his everyday decisionmaking.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United States
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Inc
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8133-2579-8 (9780813325798)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann
Human Rights And The Search For Community
Book
05/2019
1st Edition
Routledge
€206.60
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Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann
Human Rights And The Search For Community
E-Book
02/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download

Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann
Human Rights And The Search For Community
E-Book
02/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Person
Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann is professor of sociology at McMaster University in Canada and director of the university's Theme School on International Justice and Human Rights. Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann is professor of sociology at McMaster University in Canada and director of the university's Theme School on International Justice and Human Rights.
Content
In Memoriam -- Human Rights and the Search for Community -- Liberal Society -- Cultural Absolutism and Nostalgia for Community -- Rights, Dignity, and Secular Society -- The Modern Community -- Honor and Shame -- Social Exclusion -- Individualism and Social Obligation -- About the Book and Author