work, but haven't sorted out what this means and what to do about it. The Rapids of Change can help many people make sense out of our changing world. However, those with a history of working for fundamental change may find the material maddingly vague, as Theobald continues to be long on cultural context and short on specific proposals.-F. Lansing Scott · For more information: Rapids of Change, Participation Publishers, Box 2240, Wickenburg, AZ 85358, 1986, $15. SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY The Natural Ethics of Social Ecology, Murray Bookchin 's critique of social hierarch, bureaucracy, and the capitalist market. Murray Bookchin is one of America's most eloquent and radical critics of contemporary industrial society: His complex literary excursions into the nether reaches of social philosophy do not make for easy reading, but the effort is worthwhile if you seek a holistic perspective on contemporary social and ecological problems. The Modern Crisis, a · collection of four recent essays and lectures, presents a good distillation of his most important ideas in a fairly brief and (relatively) readable manner. Bookchin calls his approach /1 social ecology," which seeks to derive an ethic from nature through deep understanding of the complex web of relationships, balances, and evolutionary processes of the natural world. Bookchin believes that the guiding principles of human social organization should be grounded in this ecological ethic. Bookchin uses this ethical framework to critique social hierarchy, bureaucr, the capitalist market, the scientific worldview, industrial and political centralization, and a variety of political /1 isms," while counterposing communitarian visions of collectivized workplaces, workers councils, /1 municipal libertarian" forms of government, ecologically sensitive technologies, and ·the reemergence of informal, localized networks for mutual aid. Bookchin is at his best when marshalling his formidable intellectual resources to critique various forms of thought and social organization and when Page 24 RAIN Fall/Winter 1986 he paints with broad strokes a v1s10n of an ecological social alternative. But he leaves it to others to flesh out the details of this utopian vision, which leaves it less compelling and plausible than it could be. -F. Lansing Scott For More Information: The Modern Crisis by Murray Bookchin, 1986, 164 pp., $7.95 from: New Society Publishers, 4722 Baltimore Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19143 UNITED WAY FUTURE PLANNING REPORT United Way of America report provides speculation on trends in the future and how United Way organizatipns will be influenced. What Lies Ahead-A Mid-Decade View provides perspectives, forecasts, and supporting documentation relative to the social environment in which United Way organizations will operate during the balance of this decade and into the early 1990s. The report provides speculation on general social trends, economic trends, political trends, technological trends, and trends in regions of the country. The report is designed to be used by nonprofit social service agency managers as a way to shape their own programs to match the changing society. While many of the assumptions and speculations are widely known, the report is a useful compilation that should identify basic social issues influencing the long range plans of nonprofit organizations. The report offers several projections for the future, including: an increase in rate of immigration, both legal and illegal; emergence of baby /1 boomlet" in the 1990s; increase in the number of U.S. hourseholds but decline in size of those households; renewed interest in religion and religious political activism; continued stress on flexibility, autonomy, and participation in decision making at the workplace; continued growth toward decentralization of government to state and local levels. For More Information: United Way of America, Strategic Planning Division, 701 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria, Virginia, 22314-2045. 703836-7100.
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