Daniel Bell and the dispossessed in American society in the mid-20th century. Notes and considerations on the reemergence of the radical right

Abstract

In this text we introduce the translation of the “The dispossessed”, the first chapter of a book published in 1963: The radical right. The New American Right Expanded and Updated. In this book participated several authors and it was edited by the sociologist Daniel Bell, who wrote that first chapter. In this brief introduction we are guided by the following questions: first, why is it interesting today to look at and translate an author like Daniel Bell. Second, to what extent his academic contribution, along with other North American authors of his time, can be consider a modern classic; that is, it helps us to shed light and bring us closer to the present and the reality of a phenomenon like the radical right. Third, to what extent can we apply Bell's proposals and analysis to other political trends and radical actors in the light of the changes that have occurred in the last half century, in this second modernity or reflexive modernization.