A new political consciousness is unfolding within humanistic psychology. This brings the human growth movement into confrontation with a rival political perspective, called rational choice theory, which is derived from a different model of human nature. Comparison of these two portrayals of politics shows that the humanistic perspective provides not only a new vision of the possible human, but also a new look at our political life. The kind of world we bequeath our grandchildren depends largely on whether we base our current political decisions on humanistic or rational choice premises.
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