Traditions in US Political Development
• Liberal
• Republicanism
• Ascriptive hierarchy
Liberal Tradition
• Locke’s natural rights
• Hartz’s Liberal Tradition in America
– Lacks a feudal past, “born equal”
– No social revolution against existing order
– Did not emerge from remnants of another society
Liberal Tradition cont.
• “final conclusion” of Locke’s state of nature
• Promotes equality and individual liberty
• Tyranny of unanimity
– “irrational Lockianism”
– Ie Cold War eccentricity into sin
Liberal Tradition, cont.
• Tied liberal ideas to the Alger dream of
democratic capitalism
• Prevented the rise of socialism
Horatio Alger (1832-1899)
• Wrote rags to riches stories about American
dream
• Is a type of reference/symbol for idea that
one can pick oneself up by his/her
bootstraps via hardwork, courage,
determination, etc.
• Novels were popular and rivaled Mark
Twain
Why Socialism didn’t happen here?
• Defining factor for US exceptionalism
• Some of Lipset and Marks reasoning:
– Egalitarian and anti-static political values and
institutions
– Separation of labor and political movement
– Effect of immigration on reducing class
consciousness
Lipset, Seymour Martin and Marks, Gary. It didn’t happen Here: Why Socialism
failed in the United States. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000
Two different ideas about liberalism
• One from John Locke, John Stuart Mill, etc,
which emphasizes toleration and respect for
individual rights
• Other is the opposite of what we now know as
conservatism.
– Favors more generous welfare state and greater
measure of social and economic equality
Liberalism and Democracy’s
Discontent
• Michael Sandel’s Democracy’s Discontent: America in
Search of a Public Philosophy (1998)
• Two fears facing democracy today
– Losing control of forces that govern our lives
– Moral fabric of community unraveling
• Liberalismtheory of
rights
• Republicanism
- theory of
citizenship
What is Republican Theory?
•
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Depends on sharing in self government
Deliberating with citizens about common good
Requires knowledge of public affairs
Possess civic virtues
Sense of belonging
Republican theory cont.
• Linked to philosophy of Rousseau (1712-1778)
• Communitarianism vs. Liberalism
• Government is not neutral towards values and
ends citizens espouse
• Calls for development of character
(developmental model)
• Civic and moral ties matter
Rogers Smith (1953)
•
• Focuses on constitutional law, American political
thought, and modern legal and political theory with
special interests in questions of citizenship, race,
ethnicity and gender
•Some of his publications include
• Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political
Membership, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
(Read the first chapter or buy this book from the publisher in
hardcover or paperback)
Some of his publications include:
• Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political
Membership, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality
in America (with Philip A. Klinkner) (University of Chicago Press,
1999).
• Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History
(Yale University Press, 1997).
•Civic Ideals was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in history in
1998, and it received six "best book" awards from divisions of
the American Political Science Association, the Organization
of American Historians, the Social Science History
Association, and the Association of American Publishers.
http://www.polisci.upenn.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemi
d=73,
Smith: “American politics is best seen as
expressing the interaction of multiple political
traditions, including liberalism, republicanism,
and ascriptive forms of Americanism, which
have collectively comprised American political
culture, without any constituting it as a whole”
(p. 550).
What does Smith Say?
• Theories miss a main element of US tradition–
inegalitarian ideologies and institutions of
ascriptive hierarchy that have persisted and
defined politics of racial and ethnic minorities
and women throughout US history
• In particular he studies the 1870-1920 period
What is an ascriptive tradition?
• It’s inherent and passed down, but not
achieved
• Dealing with natural roots lineage
• Citizenship is constructed and restricted by
ascribed characteristics
Smith challenged Tocqueville’s thesis by
pointing out that for over 80% of US history,
most of the world’s populations could not
attain full American citizenship because of
their race, original nationality or gender. In
addition, for at least 2/3 of US history, the
majority of the adult population was denied
full citizenship for the same reasons (p. 549).
Thus, Smith calls for a multiple
traditions approach in which
liberalism, republicanism and
ascriptive forms of Americanism
interact to comprise American
political culture
Why have these ascriptive traditions
held up over time?
• Liberal and republican ideas threaten
privileged positions
• Thus, “typical, not aberrational”
• From slavery to new ascriptive, hierarchical
doctrines
• Currents of liberalism and towards more
inequality both have force
What do you think?
• Do you think one tradition has greater
explanatory power in describing US political
culture?