Individualism is an idea that is deeply rooted in American history. It is the basic premise that an individual's life belongs to him or her and, as a result, he or she has the right to live as he or she deems appropriate.
This is the basic ideal put forth in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues, based on the classical liberal philosophy of John Locke. Locke determined that all people are born with certain natural rights, including life, liberty, and property. Jefferson altered this slightly in the Declaration to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Political scientists and sociologists have long debated whether the individualist creed in America is good or bad for society. Robert Bellah and his colleagues urged Americans to engage in self-reflection.
To them, Americans are challenged by a number of crises, including homelessness, unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, and environmental degradation, and many Americans respond with apathy, cynicism, and a lack of empathy for their fellow citizens. To the authors, Americans' inability to respond to the plight of their fellow citizens is a product of our loyalty and allegiance to individualism.
Our collective belief, largely libertarian in nature, that the good society is achieved to the extent that citizens are free to pursue their own interests is harmful in the extreme. According to Bellah and his associates, the ethos of rugged individualism dates back to Locke in the eighteenth century and it prevents Americans from achieving a society in which the ultimate objective is to create public policies for the greater common good.
Alexis de Tocqueville warned Americans about the inherent dangers of egoism inDemocracy in America(Volume I was published in 1835 and Volume II in 1840).
De Tocqueville defined individualism in the following manner: Individualism is a reflective and peaceable sentiment that disposes each citizen to isolate himself from the mass of those like him and to withdraw to one side with his family and his friends, so that after having thus created a little society for his own use, he willingly abandons society at large to itself.
Selfishness is born of a blind instinct; individualism proceeds from an erroneous judgment rather than a depraved sentiment. It has its source in the defects of the mind as much as in the vices of the heart. While most Americans have a positive view of individualism, de Tocqueville had some serious reservations about this aspect of American culture.
Political conservatives and believers in laissez-faire capitalism generally have a very positive perspective about individualism in America. To philosophers such as Friedrich Hayek, Leo Strauss, and Milton Friedman, freedom is realized when individuals make their own choices about their lives free of government interference.
During World War II, Hayek, in particular, envisioned a causal relationship between extensive government intervention in the economy and society, and an increase in tyranny designed to usurp individual freedom. To many conservatives, social programs to assist the indigent and the oppressed may have been well intended, but the result has been a decline in freedom.
To Hayek, it was much more preferable for the individual, free of excessive government regulation, to make spontaneous decisions in the marketplace as opposed to a central government creating a policy that would result in unintended consequences and diminish the ability of the individual to pursue the good life on his or her own terms.
1. Critics of individualism
A) tend to be conservative.
B) tend to focus more on society as a whole rather than just the individual.
C) argue that less government regulation would be preferable.
D) All of these are correct
2. The primary value to defenders of individualism in America is
A) collectivism.
B) communitarianism.
C) freedom.
D) social equality.