Americanism and Its Discontents: Protestantism, Nativism, and Political Heresy in America

摘要: In his celebrated study of An American Dilemma in 1944, Swedish social scientist Gunnar Myrdal chastised the political community for failing to live up its ideals. Taking situation blacks as paradigmatic case, exposed moral contradiction between nation’s “American Creed,” with commitment democracy, egalitarianism, and tolerance, racist policies practices. While recognizing emotional intensity this contradiction, was nonetheless certain that a favorable resolution would be achieved. Whereas segregationist values practices were grounded only particularistic local interests, jealousies, wants, impulses, liberal contents Creed transcendent, universal, more fundamental.