Part 1 The constitution of the procedural republic: the public philosophy of contemporary liberalism; rights and the neutral state; religious liberty and freedom of speech; privacy rights and family law. Part 2 The political economy of citizenship: economics and virtue in the early republic: free labour versus wage labour; community, self-government, and progressive reform; liberalism and the Keynesian revolution; the triumph and travail of the procedural republic. Conclusion: in search of a public philosophy.
"Democracy's Discontent" valuably traces the historical origins and
development of what Sandel names the 'procedural republic', the
political model within which the unencumbered self reigns
supreme...The strengths of [the book] lie in Sandel's lucid
exposition and analysis; more importantly, he is concerned with
illuminating basic issues in political thought by actual historical
examples and situations. In making full use of Supreme Court
decisions, Sandel is acknowledging that much of the most vital
American political thought is to be found in constitutional debates
rather than academic treatises.--Richard H. King "Political Studies
"
"Democracy's Discontent"...is a good guide to the awkward questions
we need to ask as we lurch into the next century, as unsure as ever
about how to make the democracy of the twenty-first century a shade
less disconnected--or at least less pointlessly disconnected--than
today's...Indeed, this may well be one of those particularly
valuable books that do more good to their skeptical readers than to
their fans. The...former will have to think quite hard.--Alan Ryan
"Dissent "
[Through] detailed historical analysis and eloquent prose, Sandel
tells the story of the republican tradition in the United States
that demonstrates the central importance character formation and
civic virtue once had in American government.--James F. Louckes III
"Canadian Review of American Studies "
A profound contribution to our understanding of the present
discontents.--Paul A. Rahe "Wall Street Journal "
A provocative new book..."Democracy's Discontent" argues that
modern democracies will not be able to sustain themselves unless
they can find ways of contending with the global economy, while
also giving expression to their people's distinctive
identities.--Thomas L. Friedman "New York Times "
A rich and beautifully written account of American jurisprudence
and political history, one which...is always informative and
thought-provoking.--Michael Rosen "Times Literary Supplement "
American political discourse has become thin gruel because of a
deliberate deflation of American ideals. So says Michael Sandel in
a wonderful new book, "Democracy's Discontent"...Sandel's book will
help produce what he desires--a quickened sense of the moral
consequences of political practices and economic
arrangements...Sandel is right to regret the missing moral
dimension of public discourse. Or he was until recently. Suddenly
politics has reacquired a decidedly Sandelean dimension. Political
debate is reconnecting with the concerns Sandel so lucidly
examines...Statecraft is again soulcraft, and the citizens who will
participate best, and with most zest, will be the fortunate readers
of Sandel's splendid expansion of our rich political
tradition.--George F. Will "Newsweek "
Among liberalism's critics, few have been more influential or
insightful than Michael Sandel, a proponent of what has come to be
called the communitarian' alternative...In "Democracy's Discontent,
" Sandel...offer[s] a full historical account of the evolution of
liberalism in the United States...This carefully argued,
consistently thought-provoking book is grounded in a sophisticated
understanding of past and present political debates. "Democracy's
Discontent" is well worth reading as we near yet another
presidential election in which soundbites and poll-generated
slogans substitute for reasoned debate about the nation's
future.--Eric Foner "The Nation "
Beautifully and mildly argued...Mr. Sandel conveys ideas with
patient lucidity...The book's strength is historical...Mr. Sandel's
philosophical take on history, however, does more than nudge us out
of our contemporaneity. He shows, through close readings of Supreme
Court decisions, how philosophical conceptions of the person
changed--from a premise that an American will inherit a belief in
God, for example, to one in which Americans are viewed as people
whose religious faith is chosen like desserts at a
restaurant...American history is, in Mr. Sandel's telling, a story
of the tragic loss of civic republicanism--the notion that liberty
is not about freedom from government, but about the capacity for
self-government, which alone makes the practice of freedom
possible.--Andrew Sullivan "New York Times Book Review "
Distinctive merits of Sandel's "Democracy's Discontent" include its
admirable combination of conceptual analysis and historical
investigation, and the impression throughout of a genuinely
thoughtful mind and generous spirit.--Hilliard Aronovitch "Canadian
Journal of Philosophy "
I found an absorbing read in Michael Sandel's "Democracy's
Discontent"...The United States produces much of the best thinking
about how politics is to relate, in an era of alienation, to the
civil society it purports to represent...The debate is as relevant
on this as on the other side of the Atlantic.--Michael Fry "Glasgow
Herald "
In times of trouble men and women ransack their past and their
traditions. In "Democracy's Discontent"...Michael Sandel...has
raided that great American attic and returned with a bold narrative
of the ancestors and the civic tradition they bequeathed...Sandel
gives us one of the most powerful works of public philosophy to
appear in recent years...[and] weaves a seamless web between the
American present and the American past...[A] brilliant
diagnosis.--Fouad Ajami "U.S. News & World Report "
It is the great achievement of "Democracy's Discontent" to weave
around...lofty abstractions a detailed, coherent and marvelously
illuminating narrative of American political and legal history.
Recounting the debates over ratifying the Constitution, chartering
a national bank, abolishing slavery, the spread of wage labor,
Progressive Era reforms and the New Deal, Sandel skillfully
highlights the presence (and, increasingly, absence) of republican
ideology, the shift from a 'political economy of citizenship' to a
political economy of growth.--George Scialabba "Boston Globe "
Michael Sandel...has written an important book about the meaning of
liberty. Sandel argues that over the last century, Americans have
abandoned an earlier communitarian view of liberty, rooted in
participation in self-government, for a narrower, individualistic
definition, based on the power of personal choice. That has led to
the great paradox of American politics: Just as Americans have
become freer in the conduct of their personal lives, they have
become more constrained in their public lives. The strength of
Sandel's book is his account of how this definition of liberty has
changed over the last 200 years. He argues persuasively that the
new definition reinforces undesirable trends in court decisions and
public policy...Sandel argues brilliantly that the change in this
definition of liberty took place after the Civil War and was based
primarily on economic change...His analysis is superb...By
revealing the shallowness of liberal and conservative views of
democracy, [this book] insp
Michael Sandel's "Democracy's Discontent" is an inspired and deeply
disturbing polemic about citizenship...The last two-thirds of [the
book]...explore with great historical acumen just how [liberalism
and republicanism] have become manifest in the real world of
labour, class and capitalist development. Sandel earns his theory
by this history.--Richard Sennett "Times Literary Supplement "
On 'public philosophy' of the most philosophical kind I recommend
Michael J. Sandel's "Democracy's Discontent"...Sandel is
delightfully non- or bipartisan in his probes, chastisings and
recommendations. Among those asking for a civil civic voice and a
re-engagement with the grand themes of citizenship and the common
life, he is a leader.--Martin E. Marty "Christian Century "
Sandel's latest contribution...is notable for its seriousness, its
intelligence and its illuminating excursions into constitutional
law...His brand of soulcraft is not about soul-engineering, but
about protecting social environments that are conducive to the
development of the habits and the virtues upon which all liberal
welfare states finally depend.--Mary Ann Glendon "New Republic
"
This thoughtful book offers a mirror which reflects the complex
organization of our political souls...Sandel assiduously draws upon
the republican vision to recover forgotten dimensions of American
history. He shows the importance of that tradition to the founding
of America and, at least until very recently, to constitutional
law. He focuses on the history of judicial involvement in those
institutions such as religion, family, and public speech that set
the stage for democratic citizenship; and he records how in these
areas the Supreme Court has shifted from a concern to protect the
cultural conditions of citizenship toward a voluntarist doctrine of
the rights of the unencumbered individual...These pages, full of
reflective argument and vivid examples, will repay attention by
anyone seeking to come to terms with the contemporary state of
American politics.--William Connolly "Raritan "
"Democracy's Discontent,.".is a good guide to the awkward questions
we need to ask as we lurch into the next century, as unsure as ever
about how to make the democracy of the twenty-first century a shade
less disconnected--or at least less pointlessly disconnected--than
today's...Indeed, this may well be one of those particularly
valuable books that do more good to their skeptical readers than to
their fans. The...former will have to think quite hard. -- Alan
Ryan "Dissent"
alienation, to the civil society it purports to represent...The
debate is as relevant on this as on the other side of the
Atlantic.
and recommendations. Among those asking for a civil civic voice and
a re-engagement with the grand themes of citizenship and the common
life, he is a leader.
citizens who will participate best, and with most zest, will be the
fortunate readers of Sandel's splendid expansion of our rich
political tradition.
economy, while also giving expression to their people's distinctive
identities.
full use of Supreme Court decisions, Sandel is acknowledging that
much of the most vital American political thought is to be found in
constitutional debates rather than academic treatises.
genuinely thoughtful mind and generous spirit.
government, but about the capacity for self-government, which alone
makes the practice of freedom possible.
increasingly, absence) of republican ideology, the shift from a
'political economy of citizenship' to a political economy of
growth.
just how [liberalism and republicanism] have become manifest in the
real world of labour, class and capitalist development. Sandel
earns his theory by this history.
revealing the shallowness of liberal and conservative views of
democracy, [this book] inspires us to reevaluate what American
politics is really about.
social environments that are conducive to the development of the
habits and the virtues upon which all liberal welfare states
finally depend.
unencumbered individual...These pages, full of reflective argument
and vivid examples, will repay attention by anyone seeking to come
to terms with the contemporary state of American politics.
American past...[A] brilliant diagnosis.
The...former will have to think quite hard.
"Democracy's Discontent..".is a good guide to the awkward questions
we need to ask as we lurch into the next century, as unsure as ever
about how to make the democracy of the twenty-first century a shade
less disconnected--or at least less pointlessly disconnected--than
today's...Indeed, this may well be one of those particularly
valuable books that do more good to their skeptical readers than to
their fans. The...former will have to think quite hard. -- Alan
Ryan "Dissent"
ÝThrough¨ detailed historical analysis and eloquent prose, Sandel
tells the story of the republican tradition in the United States
that demonstrates the central importance character formation and
civic virtue once had in American government. -- James F. Louckes
III "Canadian Review of American Studies"
A wide-ranging critique of American liberalism that, unlike many
other current books on the matter, seeks its restoration as a
guiding political ethic...A book rich in ideas.
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