The great retreat: Decline of the public sphere in late twentieth-century America

摘要: revolutions produced universal norms of consent, citizenship, participation, rights, and national identity. Modernity was shaped by Enlightenment ideals rational discourse made possible the spread scientific technological values, diffusion education knowledge, increasing levels material abundance. With advancing modernization, however, politics in many countries seems to have degenerated into a pale replica democratic governance, losing much its capacity forge community, civic involvement, common forms Signs this historical process been increasingly visible United States since late 1970s with growing anti-statism popular anger directed against federal government, rise identity-based movements, enhanced popularity therapeutic various new-age indulgences, emergence postmodern intellectual culture, pervasive sense cynicism civil privatism that has swept through broad regions society. Such phenomena are part deepening mood anti-politics characterized widespread alienation from realm state power along breakdown culture.