Review Article : The Active Society Revisited

Abstract

Amitai Etzioni's The Active Society serves as a point of departure for comments on theories and methods in the social sciences that may contribute to an understanding of how societies can become masters of themselves'. The problem is first narrowed to structural features peculiar to welfare service states, which combine a political commitment to providing personal. face-to-face help, with delegating responsibility for the daily work of doing so to public employees identified with the values and attitudes of specialized occupations. Recent research is reviewed that casts light on the dilemmas engendered by this type of social structure.