Barrington Moore, Jr., one of the most distinguished thinkers in critical theory and historical sociology, has long been concerned with the prospects for freedom and decency in industrial society. The product of decades of reflection on issues of authority, inequality, and injustice, this volume analyzes fluctuating moral beliefs and behavior in political and economic affairs at different points in history, from the early Middle Ages in England to the prospects for liberalism under twentieth-century Soviet socialism. The social sources of antisocial behavior; principles of social inequality; and the origins, enemies, and possibilities of rational discussion in public affairs - these are among the topics Moore considers as he seeks to uncover the historical causes of some accepted forms of morality and to assess their social consequences.