When certain branches of the economy become obsolete, as in the case of the steel industry, not only do jobs disappear, which is obviously a terrible social hardship, but certain cultures also disappear.

It has been true in Western societies and it seems to be true elsewhere that you do not find democratic systems apart from capitalism, or apart from a market economy, if you prefer that term

Even if one is interested only in one's own society, which is one's prerogative, one can understand that society much better by comparing it with others.

The basic fault lines today are not between people with different beliefs but between people who hold these beliefs with an element of uncertainty and people who hold these beliefs with a pretense of certitude

If you are good for nothing else, you can still serve as a bad example.

In all advanced industrial societies, education has become the single most important vehicle of upward mobility.

The past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened.