The Ecological Vision: Reflections on the American Condition

Periods of great social change reveal a tension between the need for continuity and the need for innovation. The twentieth century has witnessed both radical alteration and tenacious durability in social organization, politics, economics, and art. To comprehend these changes as history and as guideposts to the future, Peter F. Drucker has, over a lifetime, pursued a discipline that he terms social ecology. The writings brought together in The Ecological Vision define the discipline as a sustained inquiry into the man-made environment and an active effort at maintaining equilibrium between change and conservation. The chapters in this volume range over a wide array of disciplines and subject matter. They are linked by a common concern with the interaction of the individual and society, and a common perspective that views economics, technology, politics, and art as dimensions of social experience and expressions of social value. Included here are profiles of such figures as Henry Ford, John C. Calhoun, Soren Kierkegaard, and Thomas Watson; analyses of the economics of Keynes and Schumpeter;and explorations of the social functions of business, management, information, and technology. Drucker's chapters on Japan examine the dynamics of cultural and economic change and afford striking comparisons with similar processes in the West. In the concluding chapter, "Reflections of a Social Ecologist," Drucker traces the development of his discipline through such intellectual antecedents as Alexis de Tocqueville, Walter Bagehot, and Wilhelm von Humboldt. He illustrates the ecological vision, an active, practical, and moral approach to social questions. Peter Drucker summarizes a lifetime of work and exemplifies the communicative clarity that are requisites of all intellectual enterprises. His book will be of interest to economists, business people, foreign affairs specialists, and intellectual historians.

Table of Contents:
One: American Experiences; Introduction to Part One; 1: The American Genius Is Political; 2: Calhoun's Pluralism; 3: Henry Ford: The Last Populist; 4: IBM's Watson: Vision for Tomorrow; 5: The Myth of American Uniformity; Two: Economics as a Social Dimension; Introduction to Part Two; 6: The Economic Basis of American Politics; 7: The Poverty of Economic Theory; 8: The Delusion of Profits; 9: Schumpeter and Keynes; 10: Keynes: Economics as a Magical System; Three: The Social Function of Management; Introduction to Part Three; 11 Management's Role; 12: Management: The Problems of Success; 13: Social Innovation: Management's New Dimension; Four: Business as a Social Institution; Introduction to Part Four; 14: Can There Be Business Ethics?; 15: The New Productivity Challenge; 16: The Emerging Theory of Manufacturing; 17: The Hostile Takeover and its Discontents; Five: Work, Tools, and Society; Introduction to Part Five; 18: Work and Tools; 19: Technology, Science, and Culture; 20: India and Appropriate Technology; 21: The First Technological Revolution and Its Lessons; Six: The Information-Based Society; Introduction to Part Six; 22: Information, Communications, and Understanding; 23: Information and the Riture of the City; 24: The Information-Based Organization; Seven: Japan as Society and Civilization; Introduction to Part Seven; 25: A View of Japan through Japanese Art; 26: Japan: The Problems of Success; 27: Behind Japan's Success; 28: Misinterpreting Japan and the Japanese; 29: How Westernized Are the Japanese?; Eight: Why Society Is Not Enough; Introduction to Part Eight; 30: The Unfashionable Kierkegaard