Barrington Moore Jr

By: Dennis Smith

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Synopsis: This title was first published in 1983. Throughout this present book author states his objective will be to elicit Moore’s approach to the question he regards as central: how may historical knowledge be used by men and women in order to comprehend and master their destiny within the limits of their moral and rational development and the stage of evolution reached by the societies and the global order to which they belong? This study is divided into four parts. In the first part an account of the text of Social Origins will be followed by, on the one hand, an analysis of the political and intellectual context in which it appeared and, on the other hand, a survey of reviews. In the second part attention will be paid to the development of Moore’s theoretical approach. In the third part the major political and historical studies will be analysed. Soviet Politics and Social Origins will be discussed first. In the fourth part Moore’s approach to historical analysis and political theory will be contrasted with those of a number of his contemporaries. Finally, Moore’s work will be related to the concerns of critical theory and the project of ‘restructuring’ social and political theory espoused by Richard Bernstein.