In 1977, AEI published a now-famous essay by Peter L. Berger and Richard John Neuhaus that examined the crucial importance of such "mediating structures" as family, church, and neighborhood to a healthy civil society. This new edition contains the original text of that essay, eleven new essays by distinguished social scientists that assess what has happened since, and a response by the original authors to the new essays.
The new and fruitful public policy approaches for the future, Peter Berger and Richard Neuhaus dared to suggest in 1977, do not lie in pursuing the lines of attack long beloved of both liberals and conservatives. They lie in taking up a fresh starting place and heading in a different direction.
Mr. Berger is professor of sociology at Boston University. Mr. Neuhaus is president of the Institute on Religion and Public Life. Michael Novak is the George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at AEI.
Table of Contents
Introduction to the 1996 Edition
A New Civic Life
Community without Politics--A British View
Mediating Structures, 1977-1995
The View from the White House--Individual and Community Empowerment
Law and the Welfare State
Philanthropy and the Welfare State
The Corruption of Religious Charities
Success Stories
Practical Principles
Bottom-up Funding
Seven Tangled Questions
Peter L. Berger and Richard John Neuhaus Respond
The Original Text
Mediating Structures and the Dilemmas of the Welfare State
In his new book, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality, AEI's Charles Murray focuses on four simple, hard truths that are rarely discussed or even acknowledged by educators and politicians.
In this provocative new book, Arthur C. Brooks explodes the myths about happiness in America. He examines vast amounts of evidence and empirical research to uncover the truth about who is happy in America, who is not, and why.
