The Common Good (PDF)

In this book, Amitai Etzioni, public intellectual and leading
proponent of communitarian values, defends the view that no society
can flourish without a shared obligation to "the common
good." Rejecting claims made by some liberal thinkers that it
is not possible to balance individual rights with uncoerced civic
responsibility, Etzioni explores a number of key issues which pose
important questions for those concerned with promoting the common
good in contemporary society. Are we morally obliged to do more for
our communities beyond treating everyone as endowed with basic
rights? Should privacy be regarded not merely as a right but also
as an obligation? And should the right to free speech take priority
over the need to protect children from harmful material in the
media and on the internet?

Etzioni asks how we can strike a healthy balance between
individual rights and public safety in an age of global terrorism.
He evaluates various new government devices, from wiretaps to
viruses, which open our lives to public scrutiny. Particular
attention is given to the issues surrounding government-issued DNA
tests. The book concludes by questioning whether we can still talk
of a relationship between the common good and the nation-state, or
whether the "online" society in which we live will make
it increasingly difficult to maintain those communities which are
the very homeland of the common good.

This new book, by one of the world's leading social and
political thinkers, will be important reading for students and
scholars of political science, social philosophy, sociology, and
public policy, as well as for the interested general reader.