The Rhetoric of Reaction

Blurb

The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy is a book by theorist Albert O. Hirschman, which styles the rhetoric of conservativism in opposition to social change as consisting of three narratives: perversity, futility, and jeopardy, and that, further, these narratives are simplistic and flawed, and cut off debate. Hirschman illustrates this thesis with examples from the French revolution and 19th and 20th centuries. He then discusses corresponding progressive narratives, and proposes a new framework.