Rethinking Horizon Theory: Culture vs. Nature.

In The Unheavenly City, Edward Banfield argues that people form social classes based on their perception of time. The radically present oriented constitute a lower class whose presence explains social problems and whose condition cannot be improved with public policy. Critics engaged Banfield on the empirical level, raising doubts about his description of the lower class. However, there has been little engagement at the theoretical level and thus no attention to the problem of Banfield's deriving horizon theory from culture instead of nature. Had Banfield looked to nature, such as John Locke's teaching of self-interest, he would have found support for horizon theory but also appreciated that horizons are dynamic, suggesting greater optimism with regard to the lower class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]