TOWARD A PRAXIS OF WORLD INTEGRATION

W Warren Wagar

doi:10.5195/jwsr.1996.67

Abstract

The theme of the 90th annual meeting of theAmerican Sociological Association is "Community of Communities: Shaping Our Future." The program asks three leading questions: must the plurality of community ties now identifying themselves throughout the world along ethnic, racial, gender, religious, and other lines ... be blended away to ensure civility? Or, can we have a society of vying tribes without shared bonds and values? Or can there be a shared frameworkin which many colorful elements find a new place ... [in] a "community of communities?"

Highlights

Must the pl ur al i ty of conununi ties i dent i fy i ng themse 1ve s t hroughou t the wor l d " a lo ng ethn i c, rac i a l, gender, re ligious, and o ther li nes ... be blended away to ensure c i v ili ty? Or, can we have a society of vying tribes witho u t share d bonds and va l ues? Or can there be a shared framework i n whi ch many colorful elements find a new place ... [in ]
"Should our s ociety of vying tribe s be transformed into a s in gle planetary c iviliz ation that str i ves to make all people equal and free?" I n other words, should our system of predatory global capitalism flourishing in a political env ironmen t of competing sovereign states be replaced by a democratic, 1 ibe ral, and socialist world conunonweal th?
Imperialist division of t h e peripheral nat i ons i nto spheres of dominat i on by the core, a termina l crisis of capitalism after thirty - odd further years of i nspired self - preservation, and a North - South wor l d war, followed by the eventual tr ium ph of worldwide socialism among the survivors, the bureaucratic decay of socia li st world gov ernance, and it s replacement -- bu t not until the mid - 22nd century -- by the very " conunu ni ty of communities" hailed in the prog r am of the 9 0th annua l meeting of the ASA

Summary

Introduction

Must the pl ur al i ty of conununi ties i dent i fy i ng themse 1ve s t hroughou t the wor l d " a lo ng ethn i c , rac i a l, gender, re ligious, and o ther li nes ... be blended away to ensure c i v ili ty? Or , can we have a society of vying tribes witho u t share d bonds and va l ues? Or can there be a shared framework i n whi ch many colorful elements find a new place ... [in ].

Results

Conclusion