Is America Different? A New Look at American Exceptionalism

by Shafer, Byron E.

• ISBN13: 9780198277347
• ISBN10: 0198277342
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-09-26
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

'American Exceptionalism' is the scholarly term for the common perception that there is something different about American life, stemming from the origins of the United States and its subsequent evolution, and marking it off from the experience of other developed nations. There is a long,rich, and varied argument about this perception, its reality, and its component elements. In Is America Different? major scholars from the realms of history, politics, economics, and sociology return to the question in the light of changes in the last thirty years and debate an answer which is appropriate to our time. Politics, economics, religion, culture, education, and public policyreceive particular attention in this debate, while a major introductory essay by Seymour Martin Lipset and a final integrating chapter by Byron E. Shafer isolate common themes and recurring disputes. The other contributors are: Daniel Bell, Peter Temin, Andrew M. Greeley, Aaron Wildavsky, Martin Trow, and Richard Rose.

Table of Contents

Preface

Overview: American Exceptionalism Reaffirmed

Stanford University Politics: The Hegelian Secret: Civil Society and American Exceptionalism

Harvard University Economics: Free Land and Federalism: American Economic Exceptionalism

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Religion: American Exceptionalism: The Religious Phenomenon

University of Arizona and NORC Culture: Resolved, that Individualism and Egalitarianism be Made Compatible in America: Political-Cultural Roots of Exceptionalism

University of Caifornia Education: American Higher Education: "Exceptional" or Just Different?

University of California Public Policy: Is American Public Policy Exceptional?

University of Strathclyde Afterword: What is the American Way? Four Themes in Search of their Next Incarnation

Oxford University

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.