Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy

The defect, Sandel maintains, lies in the impoverished vision of citizenship and community shared by Democrats and Republicans alike. American politics has lost its civic voice, leaving both liberals and conservatives unable to inspire the sense of community and civic engagement that self-government requires.

In search of a public philosophy adequate to our time, Sandel ranges across the American political experience, recalling the arguments of Jefferson and Hamilton, Lincoln and Douglas, Holmes and Brandeis, FDR and Reagan. He relates epic debates over slavery and industrial capitalism to contemporary controversies over the welfare state, religion, abortion, gay rights, and hate speech. Democracy's Discontent provides a new interpretation of the American political and constitutional tradition that offers hope of rejuvenating our civic life.

Sandel (government, Harvard U.) adds his views to the growing recognition that beneath American affluence and social justice lies a suspicion of government, a lack of control of our lives, and the unraveling of the moral fabric. He traces the problem to an impoverished vision of citizenship and community and a loss of a civic voice that prevents both liberals and conservatives from inspiring a sense of community and civil engagement that self- government requires. He calls for storytellers who can create an inspiring and convincing society to strive toward.
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Includes bibliographical references (p. [353]-406) and index.

Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, Harvard University, and the author most recently of Public Philosophy (Harvard).

Preface

PART I: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PROCEDURAL REPUBLIC

1. The Public Philosophy of Contemporary Liberalism

2. Rights and the Neutral State

3. Religious Liberty and Freedom of Speech

4. Privacy Rights and Family Law

PART II: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CITIZENSHIP

5. Economics and Virtue in the Early Republic

6. Free Labor versus Wage Labor

7. Community, Self-Government, and Progressive Reform

8. Liberalism and the Keynesian Revolution

9. The Triumph and Travail of the Procedural Republic

Conclusion: In Search of a Public Philosophy

Notes

Index