Source: The New State, 1918, p. 117. Chapter XIV: "The Group Principle at Work"
Quotes from work
The New State
A reissue of a classic work in American political theory that addresses issues of participatory democracy being debated today.Known mostly for her pioneering work in managerial theory, Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933) was also an astute political theorist. In The New State (1918), she wrote a classic work in democratic political theory. Her vision of citizens gathering into neighborhood centers and engaging in civic dialogue continues to inform recent calls to strengthen American democracy from below. Next to John Dewey's The Public and Its Problems (1927), The New State stands as one of the most important political works that grew out of the Progressive Era in American history.Having organized neighborhood discussion groups before World War I, Follett traces the dynamics she noticed in these forums and develops some core concepts useful for those working on questions of public deliberation today. She also shows how deliberation informs debates that raged in political theory during her own era, discussing the works of pluralists, idealists, and pragmatists and making important arguments about the relationship between socialism and democracy.With preliminary essays by Benjamin Barber and Jane Mansbridge, plus a historical introduction provided by Kevin Mattson, this reissued edition will be of use to scholars and activists who are currently working on issues of democratic participation, civic education, and public deliberation.
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 33
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 161
“Man can have no rights apart from society or independent of society or against society.”
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 136
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 26
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 3
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 23
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 21
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 136
“The essence of society is difference, related difference.”
Source: The New State, 1918, p. 33
Context: We see now that the process of the many becoming one is not a metaphysical or mystical idea; psychological analysis shows us how we can at the same moment be the self and the other, it shows how we can be forever apart and forever united. It is by the group process that the transfiguration of the external into the spiritual takes place, that is, that what seems a series becomes a whole. The essence of society is difference, related difference. "Give me your difference" is the cry of society to-day to every man.
