This work challenges the thesis first formulated by de Tocqueville and later systematically developed by Louis Hartz, that American political culture is characterized by a consensus on liberal capitalist values. Ranging over three hundred years of history and drawing upon the seminal work anthropologist Mary Douglas, Richard Ellis demonstrates that American history is best understood as a contest between five rival political cultures: egalitarian community, competitive individualism, hierarchical collectivism, atomized fatalism, and autonomous hermitude.
Few observers of American political culture have failed to comment on the individualistic character of the American people. Most truisms are not without validity, and this one is no exception. As a starting point the proposition may be satisfactory, but as a conclusion this pat formula disguises far more than it reveals about American political values and social relations.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.
Few observers of American political culture have failed to comment on the individualistic character of the American people. Most truisms are not without validity, and this one is no exception. As a starting point the proposition may be satisfactory, but as a conclusion this pat formula disguises far more than it reveals about American political values and social relations.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.