- author’s book

Many social institutions in the contemporary world are structured as contests.  All contests, ultimately, are contests of power. Partisan political systems are structured this way. Legal adversary systems are structured this way.  Unfettered capitalist economies are structured this way. Grade-based educational systems are structured this way. And many forms of recreation and leisure are also structured this way.

In Beyond the Culture of Contest, Michael Karlberg examines the cultural roots of these contest models of social organization, assesses their social and ecological consequences in an age in heightened global interdependence, explores alternative models of social organization, and articulates an approach to social change by which these alternative models can be realized.