Description
Today the United States is a country divided along lines of gender, economic inequality, educational level, and political affiliation. Democrats typically select a different range of matters of serious public concern compared to Republicans. Many Americans describe difficulty in coming to terms with the demands placed on them in their work, communities, and personal lives and achieving satisfaction. The institutional crises that pervade our politics, economy, educational systems, and communities have inspired a contemporary crisis: a widespread inability for many to live as integrated, effective selves in the twenty-first century United States. Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary research, The Lonely Quest explores the dilemma of constructing the self in the U.S. today.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface:
Is it Hard to Make Arrangements with Yourself?
Chapter One:
Exploring Mankind’s Past: Social Character under Tribalism, Feudalism, and Early Industrialism.
Chapter Two
Documenting the Divide: Social Division in the Twenty-First Century United States
Chapter Three
The Social Self: Early and Mid-Twentieth Century American Sociological Theories
Chapter Four
The Formation of the Self under the Conditions of Globalized Capitalism
Chapter Five
Self Identity in Field Studies in Twenty-First Century American Class Settings: Implications for Modernist Theories
Chapter Six
Life Projects in the Twenty-First Century United States: Rising Inequality, Global Capitalism, Neo-Liberal Government, and the Great Recession.
Conclusion
Individualism and Meritocracy: Prospects for Constructing Self Identity under the Conditions of Twenty-First Century Modernity
Index
