The Limits of Idealism: When Good Intentions Go Bad (Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice)

If the truth be known, I am only a partially reformed idealist. In the secret depths of my soul, I still wish to make the world a better place and sometimes fantasize about heroically eradicating its faults. When I encounter its limitations, it is consequently with deep regret and continued surprise. How, I ask myself, is it possible that that which seems so fight can be a chimera? And why, I wonder, aren't people as courageous, smart, or nice as I would like? The pain of realizing these things is sometimes so intense that I want to close my eyes and lose myself in the kinds of daydreams that comforted me as a youngster. One thing is clear, my need to come to grips with my idealism had its origin in a lifetime of naivet6. From the beginning, I wanted to be a "good" person. Often when life was most treacherous, I retreated into a comer from whence I escaped into reveries of moral glory. When I was very young, my faith was in religion. In Hebrew school, I took my lessons seriously and tried to apply them at home. By my teen years, this had been replaced by an allegiance to socialism. In the Brooklyn where I grew up, my teachers and relatives made this seem the natural course. When I reached my twenties, however, and was obliged to confront a series of personal deficiencies, psychotherapy shouldered its way to the fore.

this Book Demonstrates How And Why Morality Can Result In Extremist Behavior And Advocates What The Author Calls `critical Idealism' As A Way Of Life. The Author Discusses Radical Elements Of The Feminist, Civil Rights, And `medicalist' Movements As Examples Of The Contemporary Drift Toward Intolerance And Incivility And Demonstrates How Idealism Can Contribute To Misleading And Dangerous Behavior In Some Cases But In The Right Hands Can Result In Positive Social Action.

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still A Believer In Idealism, Fein (sociology, Kennesay State U., Georgia) Warns Of Excesses That Can Lead To Intemperate Social Policies, To Overlaying Templates Of Justice Rather Than Considering The Human Elements Involved, And To Feelings Of Personal Failure When High Goals Are Not Attained. He Addresses Such Matters As Messianic Stickball, Radical Feminism And Civil Rights, And The Santa Claus Betrayal. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com)

Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Idealism on Trial....Pages 1-21 In the Name of Morality....Pages 23-44 Messianic Stickball....Pages 45-66 Dreams or Nightmares....Pages 67-89 Extreme I: Radical Feminism....Pages 91-122 Extreme II: Radical Civil Rights....Pages 123-152 Extreme III: Radical Medicalism....Pages 153-184 Luminosity Blindness....Pages 185-207 No Respect....Pages 209-231 Back Matter....Pages 233-266