In Revolution or Renaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age, D. Paul Schafer subjects two of the most powerful forces in the world – economics and culture – to a detailed and historically sensitive analysis. He argues that the economic age has produced a great deal of wealth and unleashed tremendous productive power; however, it is not capable of coming to grips with the problems threatening human and non-human life on this planet. After tracing the evolution of the economic age from the publication of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations in 1776 to the present, he turns his attention to culture, examining it both as a concept and as a reality. What emerges is a portrait of the world system of the future where culture is the central focus of development. According to Schafer, making the transition from an economic age to a cultural age is imperative if global harmony, environmental sustainability, economic viability, and human well-being are to be achieved.
D. Paul Schafer has worked in the cultural field for four decades, taught at York University and the University of Toronto, and undertaken a number of missions for UNESCO. He is the author of many publications on culture and the arts, and is director of the World Culture Project.
The table of contents and reviews can be viewed at the author's website.
经济革命还是文化复兴
The book has been published in Chinese by the Social Sciences Academic Press in Beijing under the title Economic Revolution or Cultural Renaissance: 经济革命还是文化复兴.