A biography for Peter L. Bergerhasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“Our institute's agenda is relatively simple. We study the relationship between social-economic change and culture. By culture we mean beliefs, values and lifestyles. We cover a broad range of issues, and we work very internationally.”
“The problem with liberal Protestantism in America is not that it has not been orthodox enough, but that it has lost a lot of religious substance.”
“If you say simply that pressures toward democracy are created by the market, I would say yes.”
“So I think one can say on empirical grounds - not because of some philosophical principle - that you can't have democracy unless you have a market economy.”
“In a market economy, however, the individual has some possibility of escaping from the power of the state.”
“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 in a society as tightly controlled as Singapore's, the market creates certain forces which perhaps in the long run may lead to democracy.”
“The past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened.”
“We also have a cultural phenomenon: the emergence of a global culture, or of cultural globalization.”