A critique of Marilyn Lake’s Progressive New World

Braham Dabscheck

The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 2019, vol. 30, issue 3, 441-451

Abstract: This review article provides a critique of Marilyn Lake’s Progressive New World , a monograph that postulates that Australian/Australasian transpacific exchange shaped the development of American progressivism. The review outlines the major contours of her claim, notes her ambivalence concerning her overall position, and critiques her decision to not explain/examine differences in the political culture of the United States of America and Australia. The review seeks to overcome this problem by examining key differences in the cultural history of both societies and draws on the insights of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy and America . The review (a) develops a model which provides a means to understand how one society can impact another; (b) contrasts the origins of progressivism in the United States of America and Australia; (c) examines the work of the Australian scholar Michael Roe, who postulated that American progressivism was the independent factor impacting Australian developments; (d) distinguishes between two types of progressivism – racist conceit, pure and simple, and broader social reforms, which may or may not entrench racist conceit; and (e) examines various dimensions of progressivism which Marilyn Lake has used in developing her claim. JEL codes: B10, B22

Keywords: Alexis de Tocqueville; arbitration; Australia; Australian ballot; electoral reform; immigrants; Indigenous people; maternity and infant allowances; Michael Roe; minimum wage; New Zealand; racist conceit; trade unions; United States of America; women’s suffrage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1035304619850372 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:30:y:2019:i:3:p:441-451

DOI: 10.1177/1035304619850372

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The Economic and Labour Relations Review
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().