We are living in a world increasingly out of balance, of gross inequalities between people and nations, of institutional violence, the obsessive growth of consumerism arid the tragic loss of community. Phillip Bosserman and Stanley Parker urge us to take a fresh look at the dilemmas facing humankind at the dawn of the third millennium. They believe that the people most likely to challenge the status quo are what they call the other Americans and their counterparts in other countries. These people can he found anywhere, but are most likely to have above average incomes and wealth, adequate discretionary time, and to know something about alternative ways of living and structures of society. The authors' write of four groups of people: status quo maintainers (conservatives), modest reformers (favoring small changes), change supporters (radicals ready to jump on the bandwagon) and basic change activists (revolutionaries who get the bandwagon rolling). The four groups are progressively smaller and form a kind of pyramid. At the bottom are the mass of SQMs and at the top a relatively few BCAs-but more than you think.
The short-term consequences of the attack on America are still fresh in our minds, but we need a longer view. The challenge of basic change is apparent in all facets of life and society-in peace and justice, environmental concerns, the economy, work and leisure, politics, education, and much else. Bosserman and Parker don't have any absolute truth to spread-they simply search for the way forward.
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