On Restoring American Individualism
Candace Clark, Moeve Ford
PHL/464
Annotated Bibliography
Professor Farshad Sadri
9/25/2014
Sweet land of... conformity? Americans aren’t the rugged individuals we think we are
By Claude Fischer
June 6, 2010 www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/06/06/sweet_land_of_conformity American individualism is far more complex than our national myths, or the soap-box rhetoric of right and left, would have it. It is not individualism in the libertarian sense, the idea that the individual comes before any group and that personal freedom comes before any allegiance to authority. Research suggests that Americans do adhere to a particular strain of liberty — one that emerged in the New World — in which freedom to choose your allegiance is tempered by the expectation that you won’t stray from the values of the group you choose. In a political climate where “liberty” is frequently wielded as a rhetorical weapon but rarely discussed in a more serious way, grasping the limits of our notion of liberty might guide us to building America’s future on a different philosophical foundation.
Based on Claude Fischer’s writing on Individualism, one would think this is how most Americans feel about their freedom and their individualistic approach to society today.
David Thomas. Review of Shain, Barry Alan, The Myth of American Individualism: The Protestant Origins of American Political Thought. H-Review, H-Net Reviews. September 1997. www.h-net.org/review/showrev.php?id=1258 David Thomas discusses Shain’s thoughts of the antithesis of liberty: slavery. This is one of the few areas in which Shain gives credence to strong classical roots. In the classical tradition, slavery, more broadly defined than chattel slavery, meant that the community of individual had lost political power. “”What made one free rather than a slave, ”Shain writes, was being entitled to take part in the political life of his city and to affect the workings of its legislative
PHL/464
Annotated Bibliography
Professor Farshad Sadri
9/25/2014
Sweet land of... conformity? Americans aren’t the rugged individuals we think we are
By Claude Fischer
June 6, 2010 www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/06/06/sweet_land_of_conformity American individualism is far more complex than our national myths, or the soap-box rhetoric of right and left, would have it. It is not individualism in the libertarian sense, the idea that the individual comes before any group and that personal freedom comes before any allegiance to authority. Research suggests that Americans do adhere to a particular strain of liberty — one that emerged in the New World — in which freedom to choose your allegiance is tempered by the expectation that you won’t stray from the values of the group you choose. In a political climate where “liberty” is frequently wielded as a rhetorical weapon but rarely discussed in a more serious way, grasping the limits of our notion of liberty might guide us to building America’s future on a different philosophical foundation.
Based on Claude Fischer’s writing on Individualism, one would think this is how most Americans feel about their freedom and their individualistic approach to society today.
David Thomas. Review of Shain, Barry Alan, The Myth of American Individualism: The Protestant Origins of American Political Thought. H-Review, H-Net Reviews. September 1997. www.h-net.org/review/showrev.php?id=1258 David Thomas discusses Shain’s thoughts of the antithesis of liberty: slavery. This is one of the few areas in which Shain gives credence to strong classical roots. In the classical tradition, slavery, more broadly defined than chattel slavery, meant that the community of individual had lost political power. “”What made one free rather than a slave, ”Shain writes, was being entitled to take part in the political life of his city and to affect the workings of its legislative
Bibliography: June 6, 2010 www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/06/06/sweet_land_of_conformity