The Roots of American Individualism

The Roots of American Individualism PDF

Author: Alex Zakaras

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2024-08-20

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0691226326

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A panoramic history of American individualism from its nineteenth-century origins to today’s bitterly divided politics Individualism is a defining feature of American public life. Its influence is pervasive today, with liberals and conservatives alike promising to expand personal freedom and defend individual rights against unwanted intrusion, be it from big government, big corporations, or intolerant majorities. The Roots of American Individualism traces the origins of individualist ideas to the turbulent political controversies of the Jacksonian era (1820–1850) and explores their enduring influence on American politics and culture. Alex Zakaras plunges readers into the spirited and rancorous political debates of Andrew Jackson’s America, drawing on the stump speeches, newspaper editorials, magazine articles, and sermons that captivated mass audiences and shaped partisan identities. He shows how these debates popularized three powerful myths that celebrated the young nation as an exceptional land of liberty: the myth of the independent proprietor, the myth of the rights-bearer, and the myth of the self-made man. The Roots of American Individualism reveals how generations of politicians, pundits, and provocateurs have invoked these myths for competing political purposes. Time and again, the myths were used to determine who would enjoy equal rights and freedoms and who would not. They also conjured up heavily idealized, apolitical visions of social harmony and boundless opportunity, typically centered on the free market, that have distorted American political thought to this day.

The Good Citizen

The Good Citizen PDF

Author: David Batstone

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-04

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1135302804

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In The Good Citizen, some of the most eminent contemporary thinkers take up the question of the future of American democracy in an age of globalization, growing civic apathy, corporate unaccountability, and purported fragmentation of the American common identity by identity politics.

The Morality of Democratic Citizenship

The Morality of Democratic Citizenship PDF

Author: Robert Freeman Butts

Publisher:

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In recent years a number of political and educational leaders and groups have urged the nation's public schools to place a greater emphasis on teaching civic values and on educating students to become citizens. This book puts forth the civic values and ideas that schools should be teaching. The volume is not a handbook or curriculum guide, but is designed to broaden the perspective of curriculum specialists, textbook authors, teachers, and educational policymakers. In the first three chapters of this four-chapter book, the study of and learning about history, the study and learning about constitutional principles, and the study and learning about conceptions of citizenship are examined. The final chapter offers a set of 12 ideas and civic values that should suffuse teaching and learning in the schools. These 12 values are justice, equality, authority, participation, truth, patriotism, freedom, diversity, privacy, due process, property, and human rights. (DB)

The People & the Government. An analysis of the American society

The People & the Government. An analysis of the American society PDF

Author: Germinal Van

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2018-04-10

Total Pages: 23

ISBN-13: 3668681597

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - International Politics - General and Theories, The George Washington University, language: English, abstract: This essay discusses the covenant between the American citizen and the government. It is divided in four major parts. The first part, which is undeniably the introduction; discusses the place of the citizen in a civil society. The American society is a society based on the vision of four main philosophers of the Enlightenment Era. The combination of their visions generated the Constitution of the United States in which the government's power is tremendously restrained toward the individual liberties of the citizens. The second part of the essay elaborates the motivations and elements of what constitutes American individualism and the limits of individual liberties. As we know, American individualism is the cultural philosophy that guides the American people and their perception of life. The third part of the essay reflects on the government's obligations toward the citizen and the popular sovereignty of the people. The last part of the essay discloses the conclusion.

A Passion for Democracy

A Passion for Democracy PDF

Author: Benjamin R. Barber

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-03-09

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 069122790X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Benjamin Barber is one of America's preeminent political theorists. He has been a significant voice in the continuing debate about the nature and role of democracy in the contemporary world. A Passion for Democracy collects twenty of his most important writings on American democracy. Together they refine his distinctive position in democratic theory. Barber's conception of "strong democracy" contrasts with traditional concepts of "liberal democracy," especially in its emphasis on citizen participation in central issues of public debate. These essays critique the "thin representation" of liberal democracy and buttress the arguments presented in Barber's twelve books, most recently in his well-received Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Re-shaping the World. In these pieces, Barber argues for participatory democracy without dependence on abstract metaphysical foundations, and he stresses the relationship among democracy and civil society, civic education, and culture. A Passion for Democracy is divided into four sections. In the first, "American Theory: Democracy, Liberalism, and Rights," Barber addresses issues of ongoing relevance to today's debates about the roots of participatory democracy, including individualism vs. community, the importance of consent, and the irrelevance of Marxism. Essays in the second section, "American Practice: Leadership, Citizenship, and Censorship" provide a "strong democracy" critique of American democratic practice. "Education for Democracy: Civic Education, Service, and Citizenship" applies Barber's theories to three related topics and includes his much-discussed essay "America Skips School." The final section, "Democracy and Technology: Endless Frontier or End of Democracy?" provides glimpses into a future that technology alone cannot secure for democracy. In his preface, Barber writes: "In these essays ... I have been hard on my country. Like most ardent democrats, I want more for it than it has achieved, despite the fact that it has achieved more than most people have dared to want." This wide-ranging collection displays not only his passion for democracy, but also his unique perspective on issues of abiding importance for the democratic process.

The Public and the Private

The Public and the Private PDF

Author: Gurpreet Mahajan

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2003-08-18

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9780761997023

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Papers presented at the Workshop: the Public and the Private Democratic Citizenship in a Comparative Perspective, held at New Delhi during 2-4 November 2000.

The Civic Culture

The Civic Culture PDF

Author: Gabriel Abraham Almond

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-12-08

Total Pages: 575

ISBN-13: 1400874564

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The authors interviewed over 5,000 citizens in Germany, Italy, Mexico, Great Britain, and the U.S. to learn political attitudes in modem democratic states. Originally published in 1963. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Public-Spirited Citizenship

Public-Spirited Citizenship PDF

Author: Ralph Ketcham

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1351495488

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Any searching look at the theory and practice of citizenship in the United States today is bewildering and disconcerting. Despite earnest concern for participation, access, and "leverage," there is a widespread perception that nothing citizens do has much meaning or influence. This book argues that for American democracy to work in the twenty-first century, renewed interest in teaching the nation's young citizens a sense of the public good is imperative.All of the nation's founders, especially Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and Madison, addressed the question of whether and how a citizen can make a difference in the American political process. This concern harkens back even farther, to Locke, Erasmus, and Aristotle. Today, one obstacle to good citizenship is the social scientific turn in political science. Leaders in civic education in the twentieth century eschewed grand ideas and moral principles in favour of a focus on behaviourism and competitive, liberal politics. Another problem is the growing belief that the government has no business promoting the public good through the support of religious, educational, or cultural efforts.Ralph Ketcham vividly depicts the relationship of private self-interest and public-spirited action as these pertain to citizenship and good government. This is an enlightening book for the general reader, as well as for students, professional social scientists, and political philosophers.