The End of Economic Man: A Study of the New Totalitarianism.

DRUCKER, Peter F.

Published by New York: The John Day Company, 1939

First edition of this seminal analysis of the rise of fascism, the first book by the renowned management theorist. Writing as a young Austrian émigré who had fled Nazism, Drucker sought to explain the psychological and social breakdown that had allowed fascism to spread across Europe. Drucker argued that modern European society had rested on "Economic Man": the belief that rational economic systems could order society and secure individual fulfilment. By the 1920s and 1930s, both capitalism and Marxist socialism had lost credibility as social creeds: capitalism had failed to deliver freedom and equality, while socialism had created new hierarchies of privilege and control. In despair, the masses lost faith in the rational economic order and turned to fascism, which offered purpose, discipline, and belonging outside of economic success. Drucker concluded that democratic society could survive only by recovering a new, non-economic ideal of "Free and Equal Man". Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in yellow. With dust jacket. Light bumping and spotting; minor rubbing, toning, and chipping to unclipped jacket, short closed tear to head of front panel touching text: a very good copy in very good jacket. Seller Inventory # 192326

Bibliographic Details

Title: The End of Economic Man: A Study of the New ...
Publisher: New York: The John Day Company, 1939
Edition: 1st Edition