Integrity
eBook - ePub

Integrity

The Rise of a Distinctive Western Idea and Its Destiny

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Integrity

The Rise of a Distinctive Western Idea and Its Destiny

About this book

Public life is dominated from time to time by media storms around integrity. The behaviour of elected political leaders has led many to decry the deterioration in standards and the lack of integrity in public life. But what is integrity, and where does our concern with integrity in public life come from?

 In this book, Martin Albrow argues that integrity has been an essential component of the rise of the West and a key feature that distinguishes the West from other civilizations. He traces the idea of integrity back to its roots in ancient Greece and Rome, where integrity acquired its special meaning: the unique feature of any object with integrity was that it combined its wholeness or completeness with the embodiment of standards that came from outside it. Integrity was unity through values. He then follows the story of integrity through early Christianity and the Renaissance to the present day. Today, we find ourselves in the paradoxical situation where the lack of integrity in public life is widely condemned while, at the same time, politicians can remain popular without even pretending to act with integrity: this is the new politics of the integrity vacuum.

The idea of integrity may be a distinctively western one but, like many other aspects of western culture, it has now become a property of worldwide society. Albrow concludes by arguing that integrity could add more value today by being combined with non-western wisdom as we strive to create an order where honesty, trust and reliability in our relationships with others are paramount.

This highly original account of an idea that lies at the heart of western culture will be of interest to anyone concerned about the state and future of our public life.

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Yes, you can access Integrity by Martin Albrow in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Social Theory. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Polity
Year
2024
Print ISBN
9781509559862
eBook ISBN
9781509559879

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Dedication
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. Preface
  8. 1 An Ancient Legacy for the West
  9. 2 Integrity Becomes Modern
  10. 3 The American Experience
  11. 4 The Elusiveness of Personal Integrity
  12. 5 Creative Integrity
  13. 6 Being Human
  14. 7 Media Storms in the New Century
  15. 8 The Integrity Crisis of Our Time
  16. Conclusion: Integrity for the Human Future
  17. References
  18. Index
  19. End User License Agreement