The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality In a Democratic Society.(Book Review)

The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality In a Democratic Society, 1996. Basic Books, New York. Soft cover, $20.00, 336 pages; Hard cover, $23.40, 336 pages. By: Amitai Etzioni

Introduction

In this second year of the new millennium, ethical issues from the 20th Century are still foremost in the minds of public administrators and public managers. Issues such as how we approach our new global societies, how we sustain individuals and communities, how we govern those communities, and how we enhance our desire for a safe, stable world must be addressed. How we do this is the context of continuing discussions in the public sector.

 
   One of the discussions focuses on the field of virtue ethics, which 
   emphasizes virtues, or moral character, in contrast to approaches which 
   emphasize rules or duties (deontology) or consequences of actions 
   (teleology). Additional components include " ...moral education, moral 
   wisdom or discernment, friendship and family relations, a deep concept of 
   happiness, the role of emotions in our moral life, and the questions of 
   what sort of person I should be, and of how we should live" (Hursthouse, 
   1999, p. 3). 

The concept of the golden rule has also been discussed as a component of virtue ethics. Cruise and Brannon (2002) used it in selecting articles on virtue ethics for their symposium in Public Administration & Management: An Interactive Journal. Lynch and Lynch (1999) considered it to be "the essence of global ethics." (p. 84). Gazell (2000) discussed seven dimensions, based on the golden rule, which he felt would lead to a consensus on a global ethic. Some of those included: human rights, democratic government, a governmentregulated economic system, and a respect for the environment (p. 318).

Amitai Etzioni (1996) also addresses the concept of the golden rule as a world ethic, but develops it further by presenting an idea he calls the "new golden rule." As stated in his introduction:

 
   the old golden rule (actually, rules, because this precept appears in many 
   cultures, albeit in somewhat different versions) contains an unspoken 
   tension between what ego would prefer to do to others, and that which the 
   golden rule urges ego to recognize as the right course of action. And the 
   old rule is merely interpersonal. The new golden rule proposed here seeks 
   to greatly reduce the distance between ego's preferred course and the 
   virtuous one, while recognizing that this profound source of social and 
   personal struggle cannot be eliminated. And it seeks a…