kevincmurphy's Full Review: Michael J. Sandel - Democracy's Discontent: Americ...
In every student's life, there is that one college professor whose ideas capture the imagination. For me, Michael Sandel is that professor. An articulate communitarian, Sandel has penned Liberalism and the limits of Justice, an answer to John Rawl's famous social contract, and, more recently, Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy. Without hyperbole, I believe the latter was the best book I read in college. In fact, I liked it so much I read it again and again and eventually wrote my senior thesis on it.
In Democracy's Discontent, Sandel discusses the two prevailing political philosophies in American history: Liberalism (a theory of rights) and republicanism (a theory of citizenship). More specifically, Sandel discusses the ebb and flow of two strands of thought: "civic republicanism," a concern for establishing the prerequisites of citizenship, and "New Deal liberalism," which espouses a neutral (value-free) government and the proliferation of rights.
Sandel traces the height of civic republicanism, during the Progressive era, and, coupled with the emphasis shift from production to
consumption, its fall at the hands of New Deal liberalism in the 30's and 40's. (For an even more detailed account of this transition, see Alan Brinkley's The End of Reform.) Fleshing his tale out through the Great Society and the Morning in America, Sandel acutely diagnoses our current political dilemma - while communities dissolve and government is seen as increasingly unresponsive, both contemporary liberals and contemporary conservatives rely on an uninspiring political ideology that in its evocation of an independent self leaves us all feeling ever more disempowered. Sandel argues that the forgotten political strand of civic republicanism, a theory of community that recognizes the interdependence of citizens in the framework of society and the necessity of civic association (a la de Tocqueville), would go a long way in revitalizing both our communities and our faith in government.
I should note that I don't agree with Sandel on every point. Being a communitarian, he is much more concerned with the deleterious effects of Wal-Mart and its ilk on communities. I believe that, while multinational corporations are indeed a threat to local community rule, the benefit of chain stores' economies of scale to struggling families outweigh the cost of losing some friendly mom-and-pop stores.
Moreover, there is always a danger when one discusses civic strands of democratic thought that implementation will lead to coercion
(witness Rousseau:those who disagree with the General Will will "be forced to be free.") To combat this tendency, a form of aggressive civic education, as articulated by Benjamin Barber in his excellent book An Aristocracy of Everyone, would be a necessity in promoting a more civically attuned democracy that embraces individuality while rejecting the excesses of laissez-faire, devil-take-the-hindmost individualism.
Nevertheless, I believe Sandel's tome to be an important book for addressing the challenges of the next decade. His basic dichotomy is this: Where modern-day liberals are concerned primarily with the proliferation of rights and the distribution of justice, civic republicans (or progressives, NOT GOP Republicans) are concerned with preserving the prerequisites of citizenship. This means not only ensuring that each citizen has the means to live, work, and think freely, but also encouraging each citizen to actively take part in the political process through deliberation and political activism. To my mind, this emphasis on encouraging each person not only to be free but to be active in the affairs of the community, while retaining a strong commitment to individual liberties and idiosyncracies, represents the unrealized ideal of the American experiment.
I encourage anyone interested in politics or political affairs to read this book.
Despite the success of American life in the last half-century - unprecedented affluence, greater social justice for women and minorities, the end of t...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.