A Functioning Society: Community, Society, and Polity in the Twentieth Century

Peter F. Drucker may be best known as a writer on business and management, but these subjects were not his foremost intellectual concern. Drucker's primary concerns were community, in which the individual has status, and society, in which the individual has function. Here he has assembled selections from his vast writings on these subjects. This collection presents the full range of Drucker's thought on community, society, and political structure and constitutes an ideal introduction to his ideas. The volume is divided into seven parts. The selections in parts 1 and 2 were mostly written during World War Two and in the wake of the Great Depression. Part 3 deals with the limits of governmental competence in the social and economic realm. It contains some of Drucker's most influential writings concerned with the difference between big government and effective government. The chapters in part 4 explore autonomous centers of power outside government and within society. Part 5 contains chapters from Drucker's path-breaking work on the corporation as a social organization rather than merely an economic one. The rise of the so-called "knowledge industries" forms the background for part 6. The concluding part 7 is devoted entirely to Drucker's long essay "The Next Society." Drucker examines the emergence of new institutions and new theories arising from the information revolution and the social changes they are helping to bring about. In organizing these representative writings, Drucker chose to be topical rather than chronological, with each excerpt presenting a basic theme of his life's work. As is characteristic of his efforts, A Functioning Society appeals both the general reader as well as a cross-disciplinary scholarly readership.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Community, Society, Polity Part 1: Foundations 1. From Rousseau to Hitler 2. The Conservative Counter-Revolution of 1776 3. A Conservative Approach Part 2: The Rise of Totalitarianism 4. The Return to Demons 5. The Failure of Marxism Part 3: The Sickness of Government 6. From Nation State to Megastate 7. The Sickness of Government 8. No More Salvation by Society Part 4: The New Pluralism 9. The New Pluralism 10. Towards a Theory of Organizations 11. The Society of Organizations Part 5: The Corporation as a Social Institution 12. The Governance of Corporations 13. The Corporation as a Social Institution 14. The Corporation as a Political Institution Part 6: The Knowledge Society 15. The New Worldview 16. From Capitalism to the Knowledge Society 17. The Productivity of the Knowledge Worker 18. From Information to Communication Part 7: The Next Society 19. The Next Society