The rampant illnesses of our society--including the
disintegration of the family, the degradation of the environment,
unlimited commercialism, and unrelenting stress--are familiar to us
all. For the first time, Stephen Bertman attempts to explain these
disparate, overwhelmingly negative phenomena with a single,
unifying principle: that the accelerated pace of American society
is eroding the essence of our most fundamental values. In 1970,
Alvin Toffler identified a psycho-biological disease he called
future shock caused by too much change in too short a time. Now
Bertman daringly diagnoses an even more serious condition,
hyperculture, a chronic warping of morals and ethics caused by
America's addiction to speed. The treatment, he argues in this
book, will require nothing less than a drastic slowdown--we must
reassert control over the technologies that now dominate us in
order to insure a humane future for our children and ourselves.
We live, according to Bertman, in a society ruled by the power
of now, a power that gives us instant gratification even as it
demands our instantaneous obedience. As a result, we have adapted
our lives and values to match the speed-of-light electronic
technologies that surround us. But, in so doing, we have paid a
high price in spirit and mind. Cut off from the wisdom of the past
and too rushed to consider the consequences of our actions, we are
caught up in a culture of sensationalism and transience in which
the very definitions of personal identity and democracy are being
transformed. "Hyperculture" dares to suggest that the cure for our
condition lies not in an information superhighway or third wave
information revolution, but in the radical and painful process of
decelerating our lives enough to reclaim them. It is a daunting
challenge, to be sure, but one on which our happiness and even our
survival depend.
General
Imprint: |
Praeger Publishers Inc
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
April 1998 |
First published: |
April 1998 |
Authors: |
Stephen Bertman
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 24mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
288 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-275-96205-0 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
General
|
LSN: |
0-275-96205-9 |
Barcode: |
9780275962050 |
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