“American Democracy Is in Crisis.” James Davison Hunter’s New Book Begins Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis. Few readers will disagree with his argument.
In the midst of the crisis, American Christians rediscovered political theology. From Catholic integralism to postliberalism to Christian nationalism, we are inundated with proposals for new political futures. But first Mr. Hunter wants us to reassess our current issues. Our main challenge, he says, is cultural, not political.
In contrast to voices on both the left and right who argue that troubled democracies can be repaired through “political will and wise public policy,” Hunter argues that the problem is deeper, saying, “We have We no longer have the cultural resources to overcome what divides us” (18). If his reasoning is correct, it means that our social illness is further advanced than we thought, and more urgent now.
Does liberal democracy have a future? Probably not. But if there is, it is along the way to repairing and rebuilding the deep fabric of our culture.
Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis
james davison hunter
Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis
james davison hunter
Yale University Press. 504 pages.
James Davison Hunter, who introduced the concept of “culture wars” 30 years ago, says in this new book that the historical sources of national unity have now all but dissolved. The deepening political polarization is the most obvious example of this, but the real problem is not polarization itself, but the lack of cultural resources to overcome what divides us. Destructive fill-in-the-blank logic only makes it more difficult to bridge our differences. After all, all political systems require some degree of unity. If it cannot be produced organically, it will be forced upon you.
Yale University Press. 504 pages.
unity is the problem
As the title of his book suggests, Hunter frames the problems of modern democracy in terms of: solidarity. We tend to think of solidarity as a willingness to unite with other people. However, Hunter argues that: . . It is about the cultural preconditions and normative sources that make solidarity possible in the first place” (xii).He’s not claiming Americans don’t do it. want To come together. He argues that we have lost the cultural resources that make unity possible.
He’s not claiming Americans don’t do it. want To come together. He argues that we have lost the cultural resources that make unity possible.
Hunter is one of America’s most prominent sociologists. Since 1983, he has held a teaching position at the University of Virginia, and in 1995 he founded the Institute of Advanced Culture at the university. Like his mentor Peter Berger, he has a strong interest in questions of moral order. His 1991 book culture wars He instilled the word into our national consciousness, and his 2010 work to change the world This was the most provocative analysis of Christian cultural engagement since Niebuhr. christ and culture. democracy and solidarity He applies his trademark emphasis on the “deep structure of culture” to our broken political ecosystem.
America’s motto is Pluribus number, “One of many.”how much pluribus allowed within Howl?And how are the boundaries determined? Howl work against pluribus• These problems are ones we have faced repeatedly in our nation’s history, and our ability to overcome them is what makes American democracy resilient.? But the cultural framework that has supported our ability to collaborate is beginning to crumble. Hunter writes,
The culture that supported liberal democracy in America (and Europe as well) for quite some time is collapsing. The cultural sources that made it possible in the first place have disappeared in their most fundamental form, and no effort has been made for decades to reconstruct and revive them. . .have [failed]. (49)
American Christians have a bad habit of fixating on culture war issues at a superficial level. Hunter’s analysis takes us deeper and we witness the erosion of the framework of meaning. Once upon a time, we shared a “background agreement” on issues of knowledge, purpose, and ethics. The loss of these shared ideals is the real story underlying our political polarization.
5 main movements
Hunter’s story of the collapse of American democracy can be boiled down to five basic movements.
1. It began with “hybrid enlightenment.”
This is Hunter’s term for the unique recipe of ideas that gave rise to American democracy. English and Scottish Enlightenment, classical natural law traditions, Greek and Roman republicanism, Protestant Calvinism, and Puritan millenarianism all coalesced in a “lively and evolving syncretism.” These are the ideals we have been fighting for ever since and are the basis of our cultural unity.
2. Hybrid Enlightenment has given us a framework to “get over” our differences.
Hunter deploys the concept of “grappling” (borrowed from the field of psychiatry) to explain “the dynamics by which culture historically and sociologically navigates its contradictions” (28). For example, America was founded on the premise that all people are created equal. In reality, we never achieved that vision. Our nation’s history is a story of how we have tried to “resolve” its contradictions to achieve unity.
3. Over time, our cultural logic has changed.
Americans have always shared a “cultural logic” in their disagreements on social and political issues. It has enabled us to understand our differences and discuss them meaningfully. However, the cultural logic of liberal democracy, rooted in ideals of hybridity and Enlightenment, has gradually been replaced by a cultural logic of nihilism.
Criticism and condemnation are integrated. Nuances and complexities are kept to a minimum. . . . Every group defines itself in relation to other groups, the ultimate effect of which is the destruction of common life. (335)
4. As a result, the deep fabric of our culture has been eroded.
The surface-level dysfunction in our society is just a symptom. The real problem is a crack in the “deep fabric” of our culture. That is, metaphysics (what is real), epistemology (how do we know), anthropology (what is a human being?), ethics (how should a human being act?), and teleology (what is it?). what it means). Hunter writes: “American national life is divided. . . . It’s not just about vocabulary, it’s about what is real and true and how we know those things, what is just and righteous, and The same goes for assumptions about what a state is and what it should be.” (324)
5. We are at our limit now.
Late-stage democracies are undergoing a “great disintegration.” We are facing social exhaustion. The ideals of hybridity and Enlightenment that once united us have lost their power. Cultural resources to overcome differences are running out. Both left and right have abandoned the pursuit of unity through persuasion and compromise. This unraveling didn’t happen overnight. There’s a history here, and Hunter spends much of the book explaining that history to the reader. But the result is a “weakening of the cultural foundations of liberal democracy” (292).
Is there a way forward?
For Hunter, the past is not the key to the problem. It is now. His discussion of the current situation is most useful to patient readers. Hunter sees the same things you see: political polarization, identity politics, authoritarian impulses on the right and left, a media environment that rewards anger, a public of anger and victimhood. culture. As one might expect from much of Hunter’s early work, it is not suitable for direct practical use. But he hopes that if you’ve listened to his arguments so far, you’ll come to see these realities in a different light.
Both left and right have abandoned the pursuit of unity through persuasion and compromise.
And it appears to be Hunter’s project.he wants us to attend it cultural The roots of America’s political crisis (as the book’s subtitle suggests). Without downplaying the important role of law and public policy, Hunter wants to increase our attentiveness to the health (or unhealthiness) of public culture.
Instead of getting caught up in the culture wars, thoughtful Christians have an opportunity to repair the deep fabric of American culture. But we commit ourselves to the task only if we reject the logic of nihilism and embrace the possibility of a common good.
Hunter’s hope, stated succinctly in the coda following the final chapter, is for a “paradigm shift in liberal democracy itself” that will lead to a revitalization of liberalism. I tend to speculate that liberalism has reached a dead end and that our future lies in a more post-liberal direction. But Hunter’s analysis of the problem is inspiring, even if I don’t agree with his solution.
democracy and solidarity offers an incisive look at our cultural disconnect that is alarming, informative, and interesting. This book will be discussed for years to come.
