The Home We Build Together: Recreating Society

This is the Chief Rabbi's thesis on the future of British society and the dangers facing liberal democracy. A counterweight to his earlier book, "The Dignity of Difference", Sacks makes the case for 'integrated diversity' within a framework of shared political values.'Multiculturalism has run its course, and it is time to move on'. So begins Jonathan Sacks' new book on the future of British society and the dangers facing liberal democracy.Arguing that global communications have fragmented national cultures and that multiculturalism, intended to reduce social frictions, is today reinforcing them, Sacks argues for a new approach to national identity.Offering a new paradigm to replace previous models of assimilation on the one hand, multiculturalism on the other, he argues that we should see society as 'the home we build together', bringing the distinctive gifts of different groups to the common good. Sacks warns of the hazards free and open societies face in the twenty-first century, and offers an unusual religious defence of liberal democracy and the nation state.

Table of Contents

Part One: How Did We Get Here?; 1. Introduction; 2. Society as Country House, Hotel or Home; 3. A Brief History of Multiculturalism; 4. The Defeat of Freedom in the Name of Freedom; 5. Victims; 6. Technology and the Fragmentation of Culture; 7. The Inward Turn; Part Two: A Theory of Society Creation; 8. A Forgotten Political Classic; 9. Social Contract, Social Covenant; 10. Telling the Story; 11. The Responsible Society; 12. The Home We Build Together; Part Three: Where Next?; 13. The Uses of Covenant; 14. Who Am I?; 15. Face-to-Face, Side-by-Side; 16. Civility; 17. Multiculturalism or Tolerance?; 18. Mending the Broken Family; 19. A Religious Defence of Liberal Democracy; 20. A Time to Build; Notes; Suggestions for Further Reading; Index.

Author Biography

Sir Jonathan Sacks is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth. He is the author of numerous books, including Celebrating Life, From Optimism to Hope, The Persistence of Faith and The Dignity of Difference, for which he won a Grawemeyer Award in Religion.