The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America - Softcover

McClay, Wilfred M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807844195 ISBN 13: 9780807844199

Publisher: University North Carolina Pr, 1994

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

[A] fine study.

"American Historical Review"

This is a model of intelligent and intelligible cultural history from which any student of modern America will profit.

"Australasian Journal of American Studies"

Engaging.

"Journal of Southern History"

A fascinating intellectual history.

"America"

ƯA¨ fine study.

"American Historical Review"

From the Back Cover:

'Liberty is all every well, but men cannot live without masters. There is always a master. And men in glad obedience to the master they believe in, or they live in a frictional opposition to the master they wish to undermine...' -D.H. Lawrence

About this edition

• Publisher: University North Carolina Pr
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0807844195
• ISBN 13: 9780807844199
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 380