Is America Different?: A New Look at American Exceptionalism / Edition 1

by Byron E. Shafer

Overview

"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 policy receive 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. Providing valuable insights into the dilemma of American exceptionalism, this book will interest scholars and students of American studies, American government, American history, politics, and sociology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198277347
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/26/1991
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Nuffield College, Oxford

Table of Contents

PrefaceOverview: American Exceptionalism Reaffirmed, Seymour Martin Lipset, Stanford UniversityPolitics: The Hegelian Secret: Civil Society and American Exceptionalism, Daniel Bell, Harvard UniversityEconomics: Free Land and Federalism: American Economic Exceptionalism, Peter Temin, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyReligion: American Exceptionalism: The Religious Phenomenon, Andrew M. Greeley, University of Arizona and NORCCulture: Resolved, that Individualism and Egalitarianism be Made Compatible in America: Political-Cultural Roots of Exceptionalism, Aaron Wildavsky, University of CaiforniaEducation: American Higher Education: "Exceptional" or Just Different?, Martin Trow, University of CaliforniaPublic Policy: Is American Public Policy Exceptional?, Richard Rose, University of StrathclydeAfterword: What is the American Way? Four Themes in Search of their Next Incarnation, Byron E. Shafer, Oxford University

Editorial Reviews

"Shafer's volume sets and intellectual and scholarly standard for discussion and debate."—American Political Science Review

From the Publisher