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| Additional Physical Format: | Erscheint auch als Ikuta, Jennie Contesting conformity New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020] Online-Ausgabe (DLC)2019036719 |
|---|---|
| Document Type: | Book |
| All Authors / Contributors: |
Jennie Choi Ikuta |
| ISBN: | 9780190087845 0190087846 |
| OCLC Number: | 1195967649 |
| Notes: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Description: | xiv, 178 Seiten 25 cm |
| Contents: | Chapter One: Non-Conformity in American Public LifeChapter Two: Countering Conformity Through Intellectual Freedom in Tocqueville's Democracy in America Chapter Three: Contesting Conformity Through Individuality in Mill's On Liberty Chapter Four: Refusing Conformity Through Creativity in Nietzsche Conclusion |
| Responsibility: | Jennie C. Ikuta. |
Abstract:
""Be yourself!" "Don't just follow the crowd!" Such injunctions valorizing non-conformity pervade contemporary American culture. We praise individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Steve Jobs who chart their own course in life and do something new. Yet surprisingly, recent research in social psychology has shown that in practice, Americans are averse to non-conformity. This disjunction between our public rhetoric and practice raises questions: Why is non-conformity valuable? Is it always valuable--or does it pose dangers as well as promise benefits for democratic societies? What is the relationship between non-conformity as an individual ideal and democracy as a form of collective self-rule? Contesting Conformity brings a fresh interpretive lens to the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, and Friedrich Nietzsche to investigate non-conformity and its relationship to modern democracy. Drawing new insight from their work, Ikuta argues that non-conformity is an intractable issue for democracy. While non-conformity is often important for cultivating a most just polity, non-conformity can also undermine democracy. Insofar as democracy depends on the ability of each citizen to critically reflect and dissent from an unjust public opinion when necessary, Tocqueville and Mill enable us to appreciate non-conformity as an ethical and political ideal for democratic citizens. However, non-conformity can also undermine democracy, as Nietzsche helps us see, insofar as unconstrained expressions of non-conformity may stand in tension with the equality constitutive of democracy. Contesting Conformity demonstrates that while non-conformity can enhance democracy, non-conformity is not necessarily democratic"
Reviews
Publisher Synopsis
[A] refreshingly clear and deeply provocative book...Contesting Conformity is a deeply engaging work of political theory that challenges us to reconsider our longstanding commitment to nonconformity, reminds us that not all good things go together, and invites us to reflect on what it means for democratic citizens to see themselves as equals. * Contemporary Political Theory * Ikuta provides clear and concise analyses of sections from the relevant core texts of Tocqueville, Mill, and Nietzsche, bringing their thought into greater conformity with democratic political theory. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. * P. N. Malcolmson, St. Thomas University * Contesting Conformity is a deeply engaging work of political theory that challenges us to reconsider our longstanding commitment to nonconformity, reminds us that not all good things go together, and invites us to reflect on what it means for democratic citizens to see themselves as equals. * Amy Gais, Washington University - St. Louis, Contemporary Political Theory * Everyone thinks they love non-conformity; who could be against it? Ikuta's marvelous Contesting Conformity develops skeptical perspective through careful, thoughtful studies of Mill, Tocqueville, and Nietzsche. Each worried about the democratic tendency to follow the herd, yet Ikuta shows thatthey offer no comfort to lazy contrarianism. She draws on them to help us see the value of shame, the need for social support of dissenters, and the problem fordemocratic equality when the arrogance of the powerful is dressed up as heroic individuality. * Jacob T. Levy, Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, McGill University * American culture in general and democratic theory in particular love non-conformity. This book effectively complicates our assessment of the outsider in a democracy. While non-conformity can inject innovative experiments in living into a democracy, too much creativity can challenge the very basis and coherence of democratic life. Ikuta defends this argument through first-rate interpretations of Tocqueville, Mill, and Nietzsche. Highly recommended. * Jeffrey Church, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Houston * A searching exploration of both the value and the dangers of non-conformity in democratic societies. In this smart and insightful book, Ikuta helps us think critically about our culture's headlong embrace of individual idiosyncrasy and self-reliance. She does this by offering fresh, perceptive readings of three nineteenth-century philosophers whose insights remain powerfully relevant in our time. * Alex Zakaras, Professor of Political Science, University of Vermont * Read more...
