The Communitarian Movement asserts that America and other Western societies overemphasize individual rights and underemphasize collective responsibilities. In the debate between the importance of individual and community rights The New Golden Rule by Amitai Etzioni, one of the movement's founders, has emerged at the theoretical cutting edge of Commitarianism's challenge.

This anthology of original essays by prominent political scientists, philosophers, and sociologists systematically advances our understanding of the movement's agenda. Using The New Golden Rule as the guidepost for organizing "conversations," the essays are structured around key questions that spring from Communitarian tenets. Although Amitai Etzioni's book provides the collection's framework, contributors have criticized, modified, or augmented his positions as they saw fit.

Can anything fresh that is also worthwhile be said about communitarianism anymore? The essays in this volume show not only that it is possible to do so, but how much of real value can still be learned from continuing to explore the issues raised (and debated) by communitarians. This is the best introduction to the current state of communitarian thinking of which I am aware, and it provides abundant evidence of the continuing intellectual vitality of the movement.... -- R. Bruce Douglass, Georgetown University
Autonomy and Order is a splendid resource for anyone interested in communitarian thought. It includes critical essays as well as penetrating analyses of important themes not usually explored. Above all, the anthology displays the rich texture of communitarian ideas and the many-sided challenges they pose, going well beyond routine slogans about rights, localism, or conformity. -- Philip Selznick, University of California, Berkeley

Can anything fresh that is also worthwhile be said about communitarianism anymore? The essays in this volume show not only that it is possible to do so, but how much of real value can still be learned from
continuing to explore the issues raised (and debated) by communitarians. This is the best introduction to the current state of communitarian thinking of which I am aware, and it provides abundant evidence of the continuing intellectual vitality of the movement.

Edward W. Lehman is professor of sociology at New York University.