The Masterless: Self & Society in Modern AmericaUniversity of North Carolina Press, 1994 - 366 páginas In this provocative book, Wilfred McClay considers the long-standing tension between individualism and social cohesion in conceptions of American culture. Exploring ideas of unity and diversity as they have evolved since the Civil War, he illuminates the historical background to our ongoing search for social connectedness and sources of authority in a society increasingly dominated by the premises of individualism. McClay borrows D. H. Lawrence's term 'masterless men'--extending its meaning to women as well--and argues that it is expressive of both the promise and the peril inherent in the modern American social order. Drawing upon a wide range of disciplines--including literature, sociology, political science, philosophy, psychology, and feminist theory--McClay identifies a competition between visions of dispersion on the one hand and coalescence on the other as modes of social organization. In addition, he employs intellectual biography to illuminate the intersection of these ideas with the personal experiences of the thinkers articulating them and shows how these shifting visions are manifestations of a more general ambivalence about the process of national integration and centralization that has characterized modern American economic, political, and cultural life. |
Índice
Grand Review | 9 |
Paradoxes of Antebellum Individualism | 40 |
3 | 74 |
Direitos de autor | |
5 outras secções não apresentadas
Outras edições - Ver tudo
Palavras e frases frequentes
Adorno American history American intellectual American social antebellum army asserted Authoritarian Personality authority autonomy become Bellamy's book's Boston Burgess century character Chicago Christian Civil cohesion concept conflict consolidation Constitution critical Croly David Riesman democracy democratic Dewey disinterestedness distinction economic Edward Bellamy Emerson Erich Fromm essay experience force Frankfurt Frankfurt school Frederick Jackson Turner freedom Fromm frontier frontier thesis German Grand Review Hannah Arendt historian human Ibid idea ideal individual individualistic industrial influence inner-direction institutions interest Jews John John Dewey Lester Frank Ward liberal liberty Lincoln Lippmann Lonely Crowd Looking Backward mass society ment mind modern moral movement nature Niebuhr organization other-directed perhaps postbellum postwar problem Progressive psychological radical reform refugee Reinhold Niebuhr religion republican Riesman seemed sense social order social thought sociocracy Sociology solidarity theory thinkers tion Tocqueville totalitarian tradition Turner universal vision Ward Ward's Whitman women York