Democratic Culture and Moral Character: A Study in Culture and Personality

260 Pages·2013·3.44 MB·English

by  Jerome Braun (auth.)

Jerome Braun
Democratic Culture
and Moral Character
A Study in Culture and Personality
Democratic Culture and Moral Character
Jerome Braun
Democratic Culture
and Moral Character
A Study in Culture and Personality
123
Jerome Braun
Chicago
IL
USA
ISBN 978-94-007-6753-9 ISBN 978-94-007-6754-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6754-6
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013937095
Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or
information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief
excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the
purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the
work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of
the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must
always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the
Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for
any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein.
Printed on acid-free paper
Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Foreword
Most books on psychoanalysis and politics are either mostly about psychoanalysis,
with a little bit of politics. Or books about politics, employing a very stereotypical
and one-dimensional view of psychoanalysis. Braun’s book is quite remarkable,
and from one perspective is not really about psychoanalysis and politics at all.
Rather, it is a book about the evolution of modern life by one who is deeply
informed and thoughtful about politics, culture, and psychoanalysis. That is the
spirit in which it is written, I believe, and that is the spirit in which it is best read.
The range and breadth of Braun’s reading and understanding of the rise of the
modern world, and the modern individual who goes with it, is impressive. More
impressive still is his ability to pursue and convey a complex argument over a
couple of 100 pages. If I were to compare it to any recent work, the most obvious
would be Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism. Only Braun’s historical
sweep is broader. Psychoanalysis and politics are not so much woven together as
they are part of an intellectual background to a critique of contemporary western
culture at a vulnerable point.
At one level, Braun’s is an old fashioned project. To rethink how a contem-
porary liberal society and political culture, a culture for which the label ‘‘a culture
of narcissism’’ still fits, might still promote virtue. By virtue Braun means
something close to what the ancients meant, sound character as displayed in
action. How can a political system that still depends on good character survive in a
culture that seems aimed at destroying it? Braun’s thesis, if I understand him (and
here I must simplify), is that while the loss of a pragmatic sense of values, values
that both stand for something and make a difference in how people act, is dan-
gerous for the ruled, it is disastrous when it affects the elite. Plato knew this, his
Republic is all about combating this, and it is reflected in the old saying that the
fish rots from the head down. But Braun is not trying to tell us something new. He
is analyzing the changes in the modal self-structure of the current age, to use a
clumsy social-psychological term, a tendency that Braun mostly avoids. Exactly
what explains this change, I am not sure. Is culture itself an explanatory variable,
or that which remains to be explained? On this issue I would like to talk more with
Braun.
Looking around the world, both historically and cross-culturally, we seem
to be left with a choice between feudal societies that cultivate authoritarian
v
vi Foreword
personalities, and democratic societies that, cut loose from the bonds of tradition
(a process that took centuries) cultivate narcissistic ones. Tocqueville saw this
coming 150 years ago, and Braun is at his best in his concluding chapters in
weaving together the contemporary psychoanalytic literature on the self with the
literature on cultural transformation. The richness of Braun’s work resides in the
detail with which he weaves these two stories together: one about the psychology
of the self, the other about a culture that increasingly, but not without exception,
fails to support the self, throwing the individual back on more primitive psycho-
logical defenses. I do not believe that I have read a more thoroughgoing treatment
of the subject.
Political psychology, understood as ambitiously as Braun does, as the study of
the development of the modal personality of the modern era, is only worthwhile
when the psychological analysis is as subtle and sophisticated as the political.
Braun’s is one of the few books I have read that is as sophisticated about psy-
chology as it is about political theory.
C. Fred Alford
Professor of Government and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
University of Maryland, College Park
Contents
1 Introduction to Democratic Culture and Moral Character:
A Study in Culture and Personality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 The Argument so Far: What We Can Learn About
Social Evolution and Personal Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.2 The Overall Argument of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Part I Democracy and Character
2 Understanding Democracy as a Prerequisite
for Spreading Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3 The Faking of Charisma and Decadence:
Cultural Decay Through the Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4 Modernity and Intimacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5 How Nationalism is Similar to Juvenile Delinquency . . . . . . . . . . 69
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Part II Pragmatism and Character
6 Pragmatism as the Basis of American Culture
in an Individualistic Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.1 Some American and European Versions of Pragmatism . . . . . 99
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
vii
viii Contents
7 Formal and Informal Uses of Law for Ensuring Political
Freedom: A Short Cross-Cultural Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7.1 When Law Ceases to be Pragmatic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Part III The Evolution of Democratic Character and Culture
8 Limited Alternatives and Personal Identity: The Relation
Between Freedom and Personal Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8.1 Comparing Pre-Feudal and Post-Feudal Societies . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.2 Feudal Societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
8.3 Forced Choice Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
9 America as a Post-Feudal Society, or How to Relate
to the Islamic World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
10 Personal Versus Impersonal Forms of Exploitation . . . . . . . . . . . 139
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Part IV Conclusion
11 Politics from the Bottom Up, Rather Than the Top Down . . . . . . 157
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
12 Means and Ends in Personal Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
13 The Sense of Self in Democratic Societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
13.1 Social Relationships and the Formation of Societies . . . . . . . . 184
13.2 Authoritarianism and Narcissism as Sources
of Social Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
13.3 The Political Influence of Intellectuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
14 A Basic Summary on Social Evolution and Character . . . . . . . . . 215
14.1 The Functions of Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
14.2 Social Evolution and Personal Character
(and Personal Relationships) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
14.3 Alienation and Vulnerability to Anxiety
in Postmodern Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Contents ix
14.4 Perversions of Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
14.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Chapter 1
Introduction to Democratic Culture
and Moral Character: A Study in Culture
and Personality
It can be said that what is equal and unequal in traditional and modern societies are
the reverse of each other. There is now more equality of opportunity for top
positions but the very existence of so much modern dependence on endless eco-
nomic growth based on division of labor that results at times in intense compe-
tition, and at other times in bureaucratic subservience, produces social inequalities
even as the standard of living rises. If anything, the attempt to rebuild such
intimate communal feelings often makes the factionalism, so driven by economic
rivalries, even worse. That is because religious and ideological rivalries combine
with economic interests to muddy politics.
Modern democracy of the kind enshrined in the American Constitution (after a
few amendments) in fact dampens such rivalries because it produces the basis for a
commercial republic where contracts are enforced, not a theocracy where virtue is
ordained and then enforced. It nevertheless relies on such communal functions as
produce a sense of virtue in civil society, but it makes no attempt to create such
communal functions from scratch. If the people cease to be virtuous, the American
Constitution will not directly make them so. Yet if people are virtuous, it will teach
them one more virtue, that of tolerance.
In fact, this tolerance takes for granted the existence of autonomy, personal
freedom, and the desire to be free from the impositions of the powerful off the job
(even when this is not the case on the job, especially when the job is part of a
bureaucratic hierarchy). This social state of affairs is characteristic of post-feudal
societies like America. They try to institutionalize personal freedom off the job,
sometimes producing the danger of social isolation, unlike feudal societies where
social isolation is avoided (this is easier when these societies are not particularly
large and anonymous, this becomes harder when these societies become densely
populated) at the price of a sense of social hierarchy that pervades all of society,
resulting in the need to ‘‘play up to the powerful’’ because of both economic and
political dependence on them, something that is pervasive in most areas of social
life. Social solidarity produced through social hierarchy has the danger of treating
people like objects. This is all too common in Europe. Sometimes this pervasive
sense of social hierarchy is moderated by a sense of chivalry taught by religion,
J. Braun, Democratic Culture and Moral Character, 1
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-6754-6_1,
Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013