Philip Rieff-s social theory is at once a crucial tool in understanding the movements of contemporary culture, and a challenging body of work that has often been overlooked. The Social Philosophy of Philip Rieff embraces the lessons that this calm-headed but controversial figure in 20th-century sociology can teach those trying to parse the contemporary -culture wars- analytically and without fanaticism.Anyone with an interest in the religious, cultural and educational institutions of the West must grapple with how they have been, and will continue to be, transformed - this collection offers a wealth of routes into Rieff-s analysis of those transformations. Mending the perceived rift between Rieff-s early studies of Freud and his later commentaries on academia, culture and religion, each chapter looks at a particular facet of his work as it applies to a central topic in cultural theory. Alasdair MacIntyre described Rieff-s work as -a permanently valuable contribution to th
