The Private Future: Causes And Consequences Of Community Collapse In The West
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
Published in 1974, this incisive work of social criticism argues that Western society has undergone a profound and largely unacknowledged collapse of community life, driven by the rise of mass media, consumer technology, and the retreat of individuals into private, self-contained worlds. Martin Pawley presents a provocative diagnosis of modern urban civilization, illustrating how the proliferation of television, the automobile, and domestic appliances has systematically eroded the shared public spaces and social bonds that once held communities together. Written with sharp, polemical authority, The Private Future details the consequences of this withdrawal — a population increasingly alienated, atomized, and dependent on commercial entertainment as a substitute for genuine human connection. Pawley draws on architecture, sociology, and cultural analysis to build a compelling case that the private realm has triumphed over the civic, with deeply troubling implications for democracy and collective life. Urgent and intellectually rigorous, it remains a landmark text for anyone seeking to understand the roots of social fragmentation in the modern West.
Author: Martin Pawley
Format: Hardback
Published: 1973, Thames and Hudson
Genre: Society & culture
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
Published in 1974, this incisive work of social criticism argues that Western society has undergone a profound and largely unacknowledged collapse of community life, driven by the rise of mass media, consumer technology, and the retreat of individuals into private, self-contained worlds. Martin Pawley presents a provocative diagnosis of modern urban civilization, illustrating how the proliferation of television, the automobile, and domestic appliances has systematically eroded the shared public spaces and social bonds that once held communities together. Written with sharp, polemical authority, The Private Future details the consequences of this withdrawal — a population increasingly alienated, atomized, and dependent on commercial entertainment as a substitute for genuine human connection. Pawley draws on architecture, sociology, and cultural analysis to build a compelling case that the private realm has triumphed over the civic, with deeply troubling implications for democracy and collective life. Urgent and intellectually rigorous, it remains a landmark text for anyone seeking to understand the roots of social fragmentation in the modern West.