Age of Responsibility

A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceResponsibility-which once meant the moral duty to help and support others-has come to be equated with an obligation to be self-sufficient. This has guided recent reforms of the welfare state, making key entitlements conditional on good behavior. Drawing on political theory and moral philosophy, Yascha Mounk shows why this re-imagining of personal responsibility is pernicious-and suggests how it might be overcome."e;This important book prompts us to reconsider the role of luck and choice in debates about welfare, and to rethink our mutual responsibilities as citizens."e;-Michael J. Sandel, author of Justice"e;A smart and engaging book... Do we so value holding people accountable that we are willing to jeopardize our own welfare for a proper comeuppance?"e;-New York Times Book Review"e;An important new book... [Mounk] mounts a compelling case that political rhetoric...has shifted over the last half century toward a markedly punitive vision of social welfare."e;-Los Angeles Review of Books"e;A terrific book. The insight at its heart-that the conception of responsibility now at work in much public rhetoric and policy is both punitive and ill-conceived-is very important and should be widely heeded."e;-Jedediah Purdy, author of After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene