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Individuality and Mass Democracy Mill, Emerson, and the Burdens of Citizenship

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Political Science & Theory

Democracy

Social & Political Philosophy

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Individuality and Mass Democracy

Mill, Emerson, and the Burdens of Citizenship

Alex M. Zakaras

OUP USA

262 pages | 234x156mm

978-0-19-538468-0 | Hardback | 14 January 2010

Price: £32.50

This item will be ordered from OUP USA. Items ordered from OUP USA are despatched and charged as soon as we receive them, which is normally within 2 weeks

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Examines the nature of citizenship in contemporary mass democracy
Elucidates the ideal of individuality as grounded in the philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Stuart Mill
Convincingly argues that the best solution to political apathy is to raise, rather than lower, our expectations of what citizenship involves

Democracy, unlike any other form of government, demands that citizens take responsibility for their politics. And yet, over the past fifty years, observers of American democracy have worried that Americans are failing to do so. With occasional exceptions, voter turnout and civic engagement are declining, and the average citizen's knowledge of public affairs is flimsy at best. Citizens' political posture is mostly passive: they receive political propaganda designed by marketing professionals and consume staged political spectacles that are scarcely distinguishable from other forms of "reality" entertainment. The Rockwellian ideal of democracy-participatory, deliberative, egalitarian-that still captivates our imaginations is for the most part anachronistic.

How should we respond to these worries? Alex Zakaras argues that we must develop an ideal of citizenship suitable for mass society. To do so, he turns to a pair of nineteenth-century philosophers—John Stuart Mill and Ralph Waldo Emerson—who were among the first to confront the specific challenge of making mass democracy work, and whose moral and political insights are deeply relevant to America today. He focuses especially on the idea of individuality, which lies at the very center of their theories of democracy. Individuality emphasizes each citizen's personal complicity in the injustices committed by democratic officials, and calls on each of us to resist such complicity by speaking and acting against injustice. Individuality suggests that those of us who do no more than vote—who otherwise lead strictly private lives—are guilty of moral and civic negligence.

Readership: Professors of political theory, democratic theory, and political philosophy, graduate students in political science, and serious readers more generally.

The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.

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Individuality and Mass Democracy

Mill, Emerson, and the Burdens of Citizenship

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