Book Reviews 1221
Superintendent to the Chief Executive Officer, a contrast that might seem
bizarrewithout understandingthe history. Mainly, Shipp shows how businesses
can be involved at the level of system governance, not just school-level
partnerships.
While all analysts have their own favorededucationalreform, I find it strange
that almost none of the chapterseven mentions any form of school choice (ex-
cept magnet schools aimed at desegregation), surely one of the most important
and controversialurbanreformsof the 1990s. This is particularlyodd since some
forms of choice, including charterschools and privately funded vouchers, have
been implemented in several of these cities.
This reader'soverall impression from the case studies is that systemic reform
is difficult and that many different kinds of efforts, in several different cities,
have not succeeded. In most cities it seems that there is too much system-level
change taking place. Reforms often react to the last type of generally unsuc-
cessful change. At a time when urban superintendentshave a tenure of fewer
than three years, it is hard to see how consistent reforms can work when lead-
ership is constantly in flux.
It is a welcome sight to see educationgetting more attentionin the urbanfield.
But, like most elements of urbanpolitics, I believe that we need to learn more
about common patterns across cities and put less emphasis on individual city
cases. This book does some of the former and too much of the latter.
Paul Teske, SUNY Stony)Brook
In Search of Politics. By Zygmunt Bauman. (Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer-
sity Press, 1999. Pp. 212. $49.50 cloth, $17.95 paper.)
Zygmunt Bauman's basic theme is that political institutions have been re-
placed by private economic organizations as the prime holders of power, tran-
scending national boundaries and limiting the individual's liberty to act in the
public realm. The book is divided into three extended chapters.The first, titled
"In Searchof Public Space,"examines the changingnatureof contemporarypol-
itics, including growing insecurity,uncertainty,and threats to the safety of the
individual;the second, "In Search of Agency,"investigates the difficulties con-
fronting political institutions and offers explanations for their increasing inef-
fectiveness; and the third, "In Search of Vision," suggests possible reforms to
remedy the weakened political realm. The second chapter includes digressions
on the related subjects of ideology, traditionand autonomy,and moral and cul-
tural crisis.
Bauman identifies what he considers the sources of insecurity and "unfree-
dom" in contemporarysociety. Ratherthan legislation emanatingfrom political
institutions,marketpressuresnow act as the "agendasetters,"and rules are "im-
posed by extraterritorialfinancial, capital and trade powers" (173). Coinciding
with the privatizationof power, individuals find themselves encapsulated in a
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1222 Book Reviews
private realm with little opportunityto act collectively. They have been granted
freedom to act in their privatelives, unhinderedby political institutions,but this
negative freedom, limited to a "privatizedindividuality,"amountsto unfreedom
because individuals lack the space in which to participatein community debate
and decision making. Baumanpostulatesan unfreedomcharacterizedby an over-
abundanceof consumer choices and little overt oppression. However,the con-
temporary state fails to provide citizens with the personal security that was
promised to them, largely because of the "globalization"of the economic struc-
ture made possible through the separation of power from politics. Individuals
now face the uncertaintiesof an internationalbusiness system that advances op-
erational flexibility to improve business performance.Bauman denies that lib-
eralism offers any remedy to the present condition in which individualsare free,
but lack the ability to exercise liberty in the public realm.
Bauman identifies an irony in political sovereignty that involves the coexis-
tence of the apparentlyconflicting tendencies of globalization and localization.
Internationalfinancial institutions can more easily maintain their power when
smaller political units proliferate.These units, often considered the prime focus
for genuine political engagement, are too small to employ collective action ef-
fectively to limit financial power. Bauman believes that separatistmovements
and communitarianefforts on the local or territoriallevel all play into the hands
of global financial forces.
In order to remedy the situation as he has described it, Bauman argues for a
balance between "the individual'sliberty from interferenceand the citizen's right
to interfere"(166). The author supports a guaranteedbasic income as a means
of restoringthe relationshipbetween the privateand public spheres and as a way
of removing the principal cause of "existential insecurity."A guaranteed in-
come would remove a major source of insecurity not only for the poor, but also
for the more affluent who sense that even prosperitycontains elements of inse-
curity. Although Bauman recognizes that basic income guarantees in an exist-
ing consumer society can exacerbatepresent difficulties, he contends that once
the guaranteehas been established, the community can then deal with concerns
about consumerism.
In his broad-brushanalysis, Bauman passes quickly from subject to subject,
citing many other social critics to supporthis general theme, often not pausing
to note possible nuances of interpretation.When he refers to "the once dense
and numeroussafety nets" (66) that no longer exist or are in the process of crum-
bling, the authorfails to elaborateon a time period in which governmentdid do
an adequatejob of providing basic security to its citizens. Without a more de-
tailed historical presentation,the conclusion would be that such security never
actually existed, except in smaller communities, and can be associated with a
mythical "Golden Age."
Baumanperceives the public realm as one of critical interactionamong world
views. He addresses the role of multiculturalismin closing the gaps between
groups of individuals and between countries, cautioning against a move from
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Book Reviews 1223
"cultural variety" toward a "variety of cultures," a term that implies self-
sufficient groups with little or no communicationamong them. Baumanhastily
concludes the book with the suggestion that culturaldifferences might be over-
come by a Wittgensteiniansense of understanding,which he identifies as "know-
ing how to go on." He assertsthat"across-the-species"communicationand mutual
understandingcan occur by observing how others act and comparingthose ac-
tions with our own. Like many other social theoristswho have attemptedto claim
Ludwig Wittgensteinas an ally, Bauman has developed a context for Wittgen-
stein's philosophy that it originally did not have. Wittgensteindiscussed "know-
ing how to go on" in terms of following a rule, arguing that there is no sure
way to determine whether someone is actually following a particularrule, one
of several others, or no rule at all hardly the point Bauman wishes to make.
Despite the limitations mentioned, the book offers a revealing interpretationof
the problemsthat we face in acting in a political communityand provides, along
with Bauman'sother works, a potential basis for furthernormative and empir-
ical investigation.
Glenn H. Utter, Lamar University
Principles of Social Justice. By David Miller. (Cambridge,MA: HarvardUni-
versity Press, 1999. Pp. 337. $45.00.)
In his original and well-conceived book, Principles of Social Justice, David
Miller attempts to articulate a new theory of social justice that is both philo-
sophically sound and empiricallyconvincing. Miller's goal is to identify and de-
fend certain fundamental principles that form the nucleus of a coherent,
meaningful, and publicly viable theory of distributivejustice for a democratic
society.At stake for Miller are institutionalarrangements,public policy and prac-
tices, and private human behavior that will be positively influenced if he is
successful.
According to Miller, an adequatetheory of social justice requires consider-
ation of three fundamentalprinciples need, desert, and equality. These prin-
ciples must be evident and reasonably well balanced if decisions about the
allocation of resources, advantages, and disadvantages in society are to be
characterizedas just. Ensuringthe fairness of distributiveprocedures,Miller per-
suasively argues, is not sufficient. Social justice requires that the substan-
tive results of a society's distributive mechanisms both public and private
mechanisms must also conform to principlesunderstoodas fundamentallyfair.
Miller employs social science research to prove that his principles of social
justice are meaningful and valuable in the political culture. He argues that the
public's views aboutjustice are pluralistic,multi-dimensional,and subjectto the
social contexts in which distributivedecisions are made. In attemptingto bal-
ance distributiveclaims of need, desert, and equality, Miller finds that people
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