Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-19-1995
College/Unit
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program/Center
Social Work
Abstract
The one thing new laissez faire rhetoric seldom does is find any
place for broader visions of civil society, and in particular,
nonprofit organizations, voluntary action, or philanthropy which
have been such important parts of the American past.
Laissez faire visions of the future being promoted today
are dangerously limited in at least one important respect: They
omit any reference to nonprofit organizations, voluntary action or
philanthropy (along with sustaining reference groups like family
and support and friendship groups) as operative parts of the
future. Instead, they offer an altogether familiar bi-polar social
universe from the past composed of “the state” (a.k.a. “big
government”) and “the individual” (which appears to include such
fictive “individuals” as Fortune 500 corporations). In some
alternate versions, this new laissez-faire may also find a place for
“state and local government” in contast to the “big” (that is,
federal) government.
Digital Commons Citation
Lohmann, Roger A., "The Commons And The New Age of Laissez Faire" (1995). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 779.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/779
Included in
Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons