The Civil SphereHow do real individuals live together in real societies in the real world? Jeffrey Alexander's masterful work, The Civil Sphere, addresses this central paradox of modern life. Feelings for others--the solidarity that is ignored or underplayed by theories of power or self-interest--are at the heart of this novel inquiry into the meeting place between normative theories of what we think we should do and empirical studies of who we actually are. A grand and sweeping statement, The Civil Sphere is a major contribution to our thinking about the real but ideal world in which we all reside. |
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action activists African American allowed American civil society American Jews anti-Semitism anticivil argued assimilation autonomy binary Birmingham Cambridge century chapter Chicago Christian citizens civil repair Civil Rights movement civil society civil solidarity civil sphere communicative institutions conflict Constitution contemporary core group created critical cultural democracy democratic demonstrated discourse of civil discussion economic elite emerged emphasis empirical ethnic Freedom Summer Habermas hyphenated Ibid ideals identity immigrants incorporation institutionalized Jewish Jews Judaism justice Kennedy King leaders Martin Luther King mass modern moral multicultural narrative Nazism noncivil normative northern organization out-group participation party Philip Roth political polluted President primordial protest public opinion Public Sphere qualities quoted race radical reform regulatory institutions relations religious represented response role Selma sense sit-in social movements Sociology solidarity southern structure struggle suggested symbolic theory Thrasymachus tradition U.S. Supreme Court University Press voting women York