{"product_id":"the-progress-trap-by-ben-cobley-9781509567621","title":"The Progress Trap","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe idea of progress, one of the animating ideas of Western civilisation, has now gone global. From Marxism and neoliberalism to today’s mutant identity politics, it offers a framework of knowledge and confidence: an assurance that things will get better and that history is on our side. However, in doing this, it creates a form of authority that is simultaneously imaginary and dishonest, resting on confidence in a future that is really contingent and unknowable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Progress Trap\u003c\/i\u003e, Ben Cobley looks at this progressive mindset as a form of power, conferring a right to act and control others. 'Change', 'transformation' and the 'new' are the superior values, meaning destruction of the old: people, cultures, and nature. It is a trap into which nearly all of us fall at times, so attractive are its stories and familiar its techniques.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHard-hitting but thoughtful, the book is a meditation on the sinister consequences of the progressive way of being: for ourselves, for our democracy, for our art, and for the pursuit of real knowledge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47428307681516,"sku":"9781509567621","price":59.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781509567621.jpg?v=1774497075","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-progress-trap-by-ben-cobley-9781509567621","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}