The Middle Way: A Study of the Problems of Economic and Social Progress in a Free and Democratic Society is a 1938 book on political philosophy written by Harold Macmillan, a British Conservative Party politician and later prime minister of the United Kingdom. It was originally published in 1938 (by Macmillan & Co, Ltd, London). It advocated a broadly centrist approach to the domestic and international problems of that time, and was written when Macmillan was Member of Parliament for Stockton-on-Tees but before he entered the Cabinet. He called for a programme of nationalisation at least as ambitious as then advocated by the Labour Party.
Content It is subtitled 'A Study of the Problems of Economic and Social Progress in a Free and Democratic Society' and is divided into 3 main sections Part 1 The Needs Ch I The Emergence of a New Doctrine Ch II Life and Liberty Ch III The End of Radical Reformism Ch IV Minimum Needs and Present Incomes Ch V Present Methods of Distribution Ch VI What Has to be Done
Part 2 The Methods Ch VII Past Theories and Present Needs Ch VIII Public Enterprise & Private Combination Ch IX The Aims of Economic Policy in the Future Ch X Industrial Reconstruction Ch XI Finance Ch XII Foreign Trade Ch XIII Co-ordination
Part 3 The Benefits Ch XIV The Minimum Wage Ch XV A Minimum for the Unemployed Ch XVI Public Utility Distribution Ch XVII Economic Security Ch XVII Freedom & Progress
See also Third Way
References
Macmillan H (1978) The Middle Way, EP Publishing Ltd.