Towards A New Social Order? Real Democracy, Sustainability & Peace

"This contribution by Patrick Holz is, in many ways, exemplary social science. It realizes two main objectives. First, Patrick demonstrates how both the social and the natural sciences helped create and institutionalize the social dominance paradigm, a comprehensively influential social, political and economic structure going back to the first stratified Near and Middle Eastern societies about 5,500 years ago. Second, he puts forward a ‘realistic utopia,’ a possible world or, in the parlance of the book, the peace paradigm which rests on scientific facts that function as the necessary building blocks for the creation of an alternative world. Patrick also indicates to which degree the latter might have been already established. This is not only an assured interdisciplinary contribution but also a good read as multiple viewpoints are brought together to show that there indeed are other societal options available."

Prof. Dr. Carsten Herrmann-Pillath

Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt University, Germany

"Patrick Holz provides a detailed and devastating account of the origins and ills of the current socio-economic order as a reflection of what he calls the Social Dominance Paradigm. This paradigm is based on the twin strands of hierarchy, power and centralised control being somehow natural and, given what is taken to be the self-interested, indolent and inescapably violent nature of human beings, necessary. Holz argues convincingly that neither strand is inevitable, that altruism, cooperation, productivity and an inclination to do creative work are in fact central to human nature, and that it is possible to conceive of a viable alternative, what he calls the Peace Paradigm, that does not rely on hierarchies and centralised control, that removes the need for violence, and that offers the possibility of sustainable living in harmony with nature. A well-researched and thoroughly argued book that is as thought-provoking as it is optimistic about the possibilities for a better world. "

Professor Jochen Runde

Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

"I love this book. Patrick Holz has carefully employed the language of political science (and other esteemed fields) to speak to intellectual hegemonies privileging war and violence in social and political discourse. This book is a stealth weapon for peace designed for use within the academy.

In this volume, Patrick Holz offers a true paradigm shift in the concepts and assumptions surrounding our understanding of social and political order. Fundamentally, he asks us to rethink deeply-entrenched but poorly-evidenced assumptions about the necessity, efficacy and benefits of centralised, representative, top-down modes of governance in social, political and economic fields. Most importantly, he highlights the evidence for democratic and sustainable patterns of human coordination that belie traditional defences of war and violence as normal and natural. It is a powerful and important case."

Dr. Carissa Honeywell

Sheffield Hallam University