The sociologist Daniel Bell was an uncommonly acute observer of the
structural forces transforming the United States and other advanced
societies in the twentieth century. The titles of Bell's major
books--The End of Ideology (1960), The Coming of Post-Industrial
Society (1973), and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
(1976)--became hotly debated frameworks for understanding the era when
they were published.
In Defining the Age, Paul Starr and Julian E. Zelizer bring together a
group of distinguished contributors to consider how well Bell's ideas
captured their historical moment and continue to provide profound
insights into today's world. Wide-ranging essays demonstrate how Bell's
writing has informed thinking about subjects such as the history of
socialism, the roots of the radical right, the emerging postindustrial
society, and the role of the university. The book also examines Bell's
intellectual trajectory and distinctive political stance. Calling
himself "a socialist in economics, a liberal in politics, and a
conservative in culture," he resisted being pigeon-holed, especially as
a neoconservative.
Defining the Age features essays from historians Jenny Andersson,
David A. Bell, Michael Kazin, and Margaret O'Mara; sociologist Steven
Brint; media scholar Fred Turner; and political theorists Jan-Werner
Müller and Stefan Eich. While differing in their judgments, they agree
on one premise: Bell's ideas deserve the kind of nuanced and serious
attention that they finally receive in this book.
