Peter Herrmann 
Opening Views against the Closure of the World 

The chapters of the present book analyze contemporary societal challenges and changes in light of the social quality approach and French regulationist thinking. This means overcoming as much as possible existing boundaries of social science in some main areas:* Interdisciplinary approaches are important, but should be pushed beyond the mainstream concept, aiming at an integrated social science approach* Critique of economism is important, though we should not forget that the question is not about "how much" but about what kind of economy* Increasingly obvious is the lack of social integrity of contemporary growth policies, but less obvious is what is needed to fundamentally change the scene* treating globalization as a matter that goes beyond widening and deepening relations of countries and regions around the globe, seeing it as a news stage of world systems By working along these different frontlines, the chapters take up important issues that can be found in different areas as "growth beyond GDP", human development", "quality of life", "world systems" and the like. In the end, it is about looking at the current political-economic patterns and the possibilities they entail when it comes to the claim that "another world is possible".