The Age of Disintegration. The Politics and Economics of Division (2020)

This book addresses the disintegration of collective units of all kinds, under the twin pressures of economic globalisation and technological automation. At the level of super-states, the constituent nations of the European Union and the former Soviet Union, and of the United Kingdom, have demonstrated this dynamic; and their constituent groups, associations and communities have done so too. The author analyses the causes and consequences of these processes, at the global, national and local levels, the significance of increased mobility and migration, and the politics of resistance to some damaging effects. He recommends ways in which public policy can offset some of the latter, including radical changes in tax-benefits systems, already being trialled in several countries worldwide. Bill Jordan is Honorary Professor of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Plymouth, UK. He has authored more than 25 books on politics, economic and social policy, social work and migration. He held visiting professorships in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He is the author of Authoritarianism and How to Counter It (2020) and Automation and Human Solidarity (2020) Acknowledgements Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Smaller or Larger Collectives? The Significance of Collective Systems Failures The Science of Disintegration Capitalism and Political Collectivities References Chapter 2: National and Regional Autonomy Explanations of Order in Polities Sustaining Collective Organisations Conclusions References Chapter 3: Collapse of Collective Institutions The Nature of Membership Collectives and the Social Order Collective Resistance Conclusion References Chapter 4: Minorities, Movement and Exclusion The Role of Mobility in Economic Theory The Theory of Mobility and Migration Migration Management and Control in Practice Conclusions References Chapter 5: Communities and Associations Co-operation, Conflict and Community New Movements, Potential Communities Conclusions References Chapter 6: Protest, Disorder and Social Control The Nature of Protest in Democracies Sources of Resistance Conclusions References Chapter 7: Conclusions Pilot Studies and Experiments What UBI Is Claimed to Achieve and to Counter Conclusions References References Index Zsfg.: This book addresses the disintegration of collective units of all kinds, under the twin pressures of economic globalisation and technological automation. At the level of super-states, the constituent nations of the European Union and the former Soviet Union, and of the United Kingdom, have demonstrated this dynamic; and their constituent groups, associations and communities have done so too. The author analyses the causes and consequences of these processes, at the global, national and local levels, the significance of increased mobility and migration, and the politics of resistance to some damaging effects. He recommends ways in which public policy can offset some of the latter, including radical changes in tax-benefits systems, already being trialled in several countries worldwide