The End of Politics

the long version

"In The End of Politics, Carl Boggs delves beneath the sound bites and news headlines to explore the ongoing process of depoliticization in the United States. This book provides a panoramic view of our political, economic, cultural, and technological scene. Attuned to the many contemporary trends eroding the public sphere, Boggs illuminates the American retreat to an eerily privatized landscape of shopping malls, gated communities, new-aged fads, rural militias, isolated computer terminals, and postmodern intellectual discourse. Drawing lessons from such diverse phenomena as the influence of economic globalization, the spread of civic violence and gun culture, and the end of the cold war, the book traces the social processes that underpin and accelerate the triumph of antipolitics. Readers learn how the effects of free-market idealogy and corporate power have helped to undermine civic obligation, democratic participation, and popular decision making - at a time when mounting social and ecological crisis demand far-reaching and creative political solutions."--BOOK JACKET.