This book examines alienation from both a sociological and psychoanalytic perspective, revisiting classic treatments of the topic (Marx, Simmel, Weber) and exploring its relevance to understanding post-modern consumer society. It examines the escapist potentials for good and for ill in modern society - those fostered by commercial interests, and those maintained by individuals and groups as their form of resisting alienation.

Section 1: Alienation in Modern Mass Society: Its Consequences in Producing Post-Modernity That Is Increasingly Similar to Pre-Modernity 1. The Rise of the Nazis as an Example of Sadistic Carnival Jerome Braun 2. Democracy and the Dilemmas of Nation-Building Jerome Braun 3. The Gap Between the Ideal and the Real in Politics: A Comparative Perspective Jerome Braun 4. The Increasing Similarities Between Post-Modernity and Pre-Modernity Jerome Braun Section 2: The Carnivalization of Society 5. Alienation, Entrapment and Inauthenticity: Carnival to the Rescue Lauren Langman 6. Carnivalization and Freedom: A Shortcut to the Overcoming of Alienation Kathleen Pacyna 7. Theorizing Carnival: Mardi Gras as Perceived, Conceived, and Lived Space Kevin Fox Gotham 8. Authoritarianism and Carnivalization in the 2008 Presidential Election and the Return of Right-Wing Populism George N. Lundskow 9. The Dialectics of Carnival: From Bakhtin to Baudrillard William J. Swart and Dan Krier Section 3: Conclusion Conclusion Shlomo Shoham

Jerome Braun is an independent scholar and author in interdisciplinary social science.

Lauren Langman is Professor of Sociology at Loyola University.