The Abundant Society and World Order: Alternative Life-Style in the US *

Abstract

Since the present world order has been shaped and is being sustained by nation-state actors to preserve their domestic social structures and ensure a high standard of life to their peoples, a structural transformation of this world order will inevitably involve a reordering of these societies and the adoption of a different life-style by their peoples. This paper examines the possibility of such a transition happening in the most important and the most powerful of the actors, the United States of America. It examines the various domestic movements that challenge, both on the plane of thinking and on the plane of action, the myths, the value systems and the meaning systems from which the organizing principles and sanctions of the social institutions are derived. It finds that although the various groups projecting, and also living, alternative life-styles project certain values that resonate well with the American public at large, other vested interests tap these values to buttress the status quo, thereby pushing these groups to the fringes of society. It comes to the conclusion that certain events in the international arena may exert greater influence on the US society than domestic groups which plead for alternative life-styles.