The Claims of Culture : Equality and Diversity in the Global Era

Rating:
Summary: Unreadable and Laborious
Review: Quite simply, this is one of the most poorly written books I've ever seen. Benhabib's basic points are lost in a jungle of jargon that appears to be written only for herself or for a very tight circle of over-specialized academics who share the same unintelligible language. Tragically, Benhabib's points about the evolutionary nature of culture and its fit within democratic societies are valid, interesting, and worthy of contemplation, but her writing prevents most people from ever grasping them. Simply put, don't buy this book. If it is required for a course, as it was for me, tell your professor to pick something else.

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read
Review: Seyla Benhabib's important new book "The Claims of Culture" addresses a constellation of issues with which our contemporary liberal democratic society must deal in an age of cultural diversity both within the political boundaries the nation-state and at the global level. As Benhabib makes very clear, in this context we face a dual imperative of remaining sensitive to the plurality of the ways people both near and far choose how to live, while simultaneously seeking out a mode of reflexive ethical universalism that can provide foundations for normatively addressing crises with world-reach. We must also look askance at approaches to cultural diversity, which reify boundaries and in turn fail to take account of the fluid process of renegotiation and recreation constitutive of the contemporary practices of social and political self-definition.
The book is gracefully and limpidly written. Benhabib's has a masterful grasp of the multiple literatures involved in her undertaking and is a virtuoso of conveying their multiform ideas both incisively and reliably. This work is a must read for anyone interested cultural studies or political theory or their often-ignored yet undoubtedly intimate relationship.