Struggling for Recognition The Psychological Impetus for Democratic Progress [Paperback]

Struggling for Recognition posits that the drive for personal recognition is a prime motivation behind the pursuit of democracy. The book presents an alternative to the theories of social and political changes that fail to test the causal assumption they make about human psychology. The theory presented underscores a fundamental aspect of human nature: the pursuit of recognition, that is, the drive for positive self-esteem and status and the aversion of negative self-esteem and subordination. This pursuit of recognition becomes the impetus for action and is used to overcome fear as well as rational costs and benefits calculations involved in collective action. The book examines the mechanisms by which this disposition is triggered and converted into political pressures that eventually lead to democratic reforms.Struggling for Recognition will be of interest to a wide range of scholars in political science, including those researching social movements, social change, democracy, and democratic transitions. A unique multidisciplinary work, it will foster better understanding of key political events such as democratic transitions.

List of IllustrationsPreface and Acknowledgments Introduction- The Phenomenon of Democratic Progress- The Purposes and Structure of the Book- The Challenges of Reconstructing Psychology in History- Preliminary Remarks1. Theories of Democratic Progress and Conceptions of Human Nature- Democratic Progress and Bottom-Up Pressures- Modernization Theory- Multivariate Theories and Models- The Behaviorist Conception of Human Nature in the Standard Approach to Democratic Progress- Conclusions2. Human Nature and the Pursuit of Recognition- Recognition in the History of Political Philosophy-Interdisciplinary Explanations to the Pursuit of Recognition- The Pursuit of Recognition: A Social-Psychological Perspective- Evidence of Obedience to Authority?- Conclusions 3. From Pre-History to the End of History: Democratic Systems lÓ0