The Seesaw: A First View

Abstract

In the western world a powerful seesaw is at work but is rarely noticed. The seesaw carries a wide range of beliefs and attitudes, and when the seesaw moves many of those attitudes move too. The seesaw has been tilting up and down since at least the eighteenth century, and at times it reaches an extreme angle. We recently experienced a tilt of the seesaw, so sudden that cultural and economic life temporarily seemed to lose its sense of direction.