Revolution or Renaissance. Making the transition from an economic age to a cultural age

November 2008 -

In Revolution or Renaissance, D. Paul Schafer subjects two of the most powerful forces in the world: economics and culture. He argues that the economic age has produced a great deal of wealth and productive power. However, it is not capable of coming to grips with the problems threatening human and non-human life on this planet. Schafer traces the evolution of the economic age from the publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776 to the present. What emerges is a portrait of the world system of the future where culture is the central focus of development. This book was published in Chinese in 2006 and is now, 2008, available in English.

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D. Paul Schafer is director of the World Culture Project. The World Culture Project is a Unesco project dating back to 1988. Purpose at the time was to initiate the World Decade for Cultural Development. One of several events in that decade was the conference  'The Power of Culture' in Amsterdam in 1996, at which this very website was launched.

Revolution or Renaissance. Making the transition from an economic age to a cultural age, D. Paul Schafer.
(University of Ottawa Press, €29,-).