The Politics of Uncertainty : Attachment in Private and Public Life

At a time when global reorganisation is undermining security of employment, and the basic entitlement of post-war social policies are being eroded, the question of how we will manage uncertainty - collaboratively or competitively - is crucial to quality of life in the coming century.

Connecting theories of child development to theories of social power and ideology, The Politics of Uncertainty asks whether contemporary societies can retrieve the moral consensus necessary to nurture and protect their members.

Drawing on John Bowlby's attachment theory, Peter Marris looks at how each of us creates a world of predictable relationships out of our unique experiences.

A child's attachment to parenting figures is the crucial bond from which understanding of relationships and power develop.

The quality of this attachment experience conditions our social perceptions, but that experience is itself affected by the pressures of ideology and social inequality.

The second part looks at how societies sustain or undermine the sense of security that we struggle to attain. Competition for autonomy and control, at every level of government and economic organisation, displaces the burden of uncertainty, with the heaviest burden falling on the weakest, with the fewest social and economic resources.

The concluding chapters contrast the competitive control of uncertainty with co-operative and reciprocal strategies, and explore the conditions which could encourage a politics of reciprocity.