Progressive Vacuums

Michael Piore's "Beyond Individualism" begins with the premise that an economic, political, and social crisis is brewing in America due to the increasing fiscal demands of misunderstood minority interest groups. Piore argues that to solve this crisis, Americans must learn to transcend a narrow, individualistic approach to these groups and instead aspire to a broader conception of individualism-one which stresses mutual understanding, respect, communication, and inclusiveness. Reviewer Mark Kelman, who describes Piore as his own "academic hero," argues that "Beyond Individualism" marks a disappointing retreat from Piore's earlier pragmatic and progressive economics. Kelman laments what he sees as Piore's unconscious abandonment of his previous commitment to specific policy interventions as a practical way to diminish suffering, and he argues that Piore's embrace of a more abstractly theoretical approach to solving human problems is both misplaced and ultimately ineffectual.