Some economists have hailed the new model of management and employee relations that Japanese corporations practice at home and are allegedly bringing to America. The story of Kawasaki isn’t so encouraging.
Article
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Delectable Materialism: Were the Critics of Consumer Culture Wrong All Along?
It takes an immigrant, or a Soviet visitor, to celebrate the culture of consumerism. Why, as a nation, are we so eager for material improvement, yet so skeptical of materialism?
Posted inCivil Rights in America
Racism and Race-Conscious Remedies
An exchange on whether American social and economic policy should emphasize special programs for blacks and other racial minorities or a more universal approach aimed equally at disadvantaged whites.
Posted inAmerica and the World
Can the European “Social Market” Survive 1992?
What will happen to Europe’s high labor and environmental standards as the European Community creates its single continental market? The example of European regulatory federalism, bolstered by stronger political parties and trade unions, may be instr
Posted inCivil Rights in America
Small Children, Small Pay: Why Child Care Pays So Little
Child care is expensive, yet those who provide it are poorly paid. Solving the dilemma may call for a Solomonic choice.
Posted inCivil Rights in America
The Elusive Promise of Vaccines
Children are not getting vaccines now available, much less a new generation of vaccines that the biomedical revolution has put within our reach.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Reaganites and the Renegade
Conservative Republican strategists are hopping mad at Kevin Phillips. For years, they have embraced (with much success) the notion outlined by Phillips in his 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority, that middle-class voters could be wooed by running against the poor. But now, Phillips seems to have deserted his erstwhile allies. In his latest book, […]
Posted inAmerica and the World
Rejoinder: Who Do We Think They Are?
Ever since I argued in the Harvard Business Review last year that we should pay less attention to corporate nationality and more attention to whether our nation’s work force was gaining the skills and competences it needed to compete, I’ve had the curious sense of being shoved — quite against my will — to the […]
Posted inLaw and Justice
Does the Supreme Court Matter?
An exchange on the significance of the courts in the achievement of civil rights.
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
The Cultural Enemy Within
In the past year, the opinion has gained currency, particularly in conservative circles, that the great ideological battles of our time are shifting to the terrain of culture. The controversies over free speech and the arts; multiculturalism and education; the relevance of gender, race, and class to the study of the humanities and society; the […]