The cover page is adapted from Simultaneous Visions, a painting completed in 1911 by Umberto Boccioni. The cover and title pages feature the League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by The League of Moveable Type. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Boccioniwww.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
The New State
Chapters (38)
- Introduction 0:00
- Part I: The Group Principle: I: The Group and the New Psychology 26:36
- II: The Group Process: The Collective Idea 36:05
- III: The Group Process: The Collective Idea (Continued) 53:03
- IV: The Group Process: The Collective Feeling 1:13:41
- V: The Group Process: The Collective Will 1:22:21
- VI: The Unity of the Social Process 1:25:00
- VII: The Individual 1:44:23
- VIII: Who Is the Free Man? 2:02:25
- IX: The New Individualism 2:09:29
- X: Society 2:12:49
- XI: The Self-and-Others Illusion 2:19:09
- XII: The Crowd Fallacy 2:31:08
- XIII: The Secret of Progress 2:45:56
- XIV: The Group Principle at Work 3:08:58
- XV: From Contract to Community 3:41:23
- Part II: The Traditional Democracy: XVI: Democracy Not “Liberty” and “Equality”: Our Political Dualism 4:02:32
- XVII: Democracy Not the Majority: Our Political Fallacy 4:11:56
- XVIII: Democracy Not the Crowd: Our Popular Delusion 4:22:56
- XIX: The True Democracy 4:37:17
- XX: The Growth of Democracy in America 4:49:38
- XXI: After Direct Government—What? 5:12:00
- Part III: Group Organization Democracy’s Method: I: The Neighborhood Group: XXII: Neighborhood Needs the Basis of Politics 5:35:40
- XXIII: An Integrated Neighborhood 6:04:57
- XXIV: Neighborhood Organization vs. Party Organization I 6:27:37
- XXV: Neighborhood Organization vs. Party Organization II 6:50:17
- XXVI: Neighborhood Organization vs. Party Organization III 7:00:23
- XXVII: From Neighborhood to Nation: The Unifying State 7:24:15
- II: The Occupational Group: XXVIII: Political Pluralism 7:48:38
- XXIX: Political Pluralism and Sovereignty 8:11:38
- XXX: Political Pluralism and Functionalism 8:42:29
- XXXI: Political Pluralism and the True Federal State 8:57:50
- XXXII: Political Pluralism (Concluded) 9:27:06
- XXXIII: Increasing Recognition of the Occupational Group 9:44:24
- Part III: The Dual Aspect of the Group 10:05:06
- XXXIV: The Moral State and Creative Citizenship 10:05:17
- XXXV: The World State 10:27:03
- Appendix 11:01:40
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In the New State, management consultant and social theorist Mary Parker Follett investigates the problem of democracy in a pluralistic society. Follett contends that representative democracy has failed to allow citizens the opportunity to express their unique creativity. This goes hand in hand with a public life that is increasingly atomized and unsuited for genuine societal cooperation towards shared goals. In short, a new kind of societal organization is needed.
Follett draws on her experience with group organization to design a new democratic system to take advantage of people’s natural desire to belong to groups. Neighborhood groups, social groups, and professional groups all allow individuals to learn how to cooperate and to set and achieve goals that otherwise could not be completed. Though individuals differ in many important ways, this diversity can be a source of strength in groups in which pluralism is encouraged instead of uniformity. These kinds of inclusive groups can lend structure to a new form of governance: one that is creative, caring, and truly free.
Follett predicts that from small scale groups an ever-widening circle of larger and larger groups will bloom, encompassing local, state, national, and even international communities. Though certainly ambitious, her plan is meticulously crafted and persuasively argued both from an empiric and a philosophic point of view.
First published in 1919 at the end of World War I, Follett’s social theories have garnered renewed interest today, especially among advocates of a more participatory form of democracy.