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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why the culture wars continue?, May 31, 2002
This review is from: Culture Wars: The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America (Paperback)
This was a textbook for me in seminary. I am in a conservative Presbyterian denomination and studied at a very conservative seminary, and this book got some interesting reviews from the students. For me, it was a little difficult, since I don't have much background in sociology, but as I trudged through it I really grew to appreciate it. Some of my other classmates loved it too, but there were several who were quite taken aback by it. They didn't like it because Hunter didn't come out and condemn those who were on the wrong side of the culture wars. But that is just the point - in this book he does not try to point out who is wrong and who is right, his object is to demonstrate why neither side is able to persuade, or prevail against the other. Each side in the culture war has it's own set of presuppositions and assumptions that it speaks from. Because of this, that which seems most persuasive to one side completely misses those on the other side, because they don't share the same presuppositions. We are talking past one another. Another problem that Hunter addresses is the issue of extremes and inflammatory rhetoric. Hunter says that, by and large, the culture wars are being fought by people on the extreme ends of their positions. So, the battle of the culture wars is usually fought with inflammatory rhetoric that doesn't persuade, it just angers. As a sidenote I recently read a story about how communists used to train their young recruits. This particular communist said that when a young person adopted communism the best thing they could do was immediately set them on a street corner passing out communist leaflets. They would get attacked mercilessly, but this attack would only serve to harden and solidify the young communist in his or her beliefs. I think Hunter shows this - the inflammatory rhetoric used by those on the extreme ends of the culture war debates, only serves to harden the other side in their respective positions. So, if you are looking for quick answers, or a strategy to defeat your opponents, you won't find it here. But, if you are willing to begin to at least try to understand your opponents, as well as the larger issues, this is a great place to start.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wide-angle view on American society..., February 22, 2006
This review is from: Culture Wars: The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America (Paperback)
Though the book was published originally published in 1991, it is no wonder that this book is still in print: it is as relevant as ever - and I daresay its relevance is increasing again.
In this book, Hunter gives us a wide-angle view of what is going on in American society since the second half of the twentieth century. Hunter argues that there is a culture war going on. Consequently, he aims at describing the historical and socio-political backgrounds of this cultural conflict.
In five parts, Hunter introduces the culture war (prologue and chapters 1 and 2), maps the lines of conflict (chapters 3 and 4), describes the means of the warfare: the discourse and technology (chapters 5 and 6), and extensively describes the fields of conflict: family, education, media and the arts, law, and electoral politics (chapters 7-11), and finally points out possibilities for a resolution (chapter 12 and the epilogue).
Hunter defines a cultural conflict as "political and social hostility rooted in different systems of moral understanding" (42). According to Hunter, the culture war in America revolves around different worldviews, "our most fundamental and cherished assumptions about how to order or lives - our own lives and our lives together in this society" (42). The contemporary culture war is "a struggle over national identity - over the meaning of America, who we have been in the past, who we are now, and perhaps most important, who we, as a nation, will aspire to become in the new millennium" (50).
Though Hunter acknowledges that the culture war is fought out mainy by the elite and 'knowledge workers', this cultural conflict intersects the lives of most Americans, because the conflict has an impact on every institution of American society: family, education, media, law, and politics.
Hunter writes brilliantly, avoiding jargon as much as possible and defining many concepts with exceptional clarity. This book is really an excellent read.
A personal note:
I am a European citizen and often quite puzzled by what is going on in America. This book gave me a really good perspective on the backgrounds of some American discussions, such as Intelligent Design and why the evolution-creation struggle constantly revolves around education textbooks.
Moreover, this book also made me realize that in contemporary Europe there are plenty of signs that, perhaps, a European culture war is at hand...
An eye-opener, most definitely!
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Accessible, Insightful Sociological Research, March 31, 2000
This review is from: Culture Wars: The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America (Paperback)
The most significant contribution of James Davison Hunter's Culture Wars resides in the controversy and extensive scholarship that followed the publication of his book. In this work Hunter examines the discourse and methodologies of contempporary social movement organizations, and arrives at an interesting conclusion: while denominational differences may have declined in the second half of the 20th century, significant struggles within the realm of religion remain. The main divide that the author focuses on is that between the "orthodox" and "progressives." While the author does an admirable job of making connections between politics, religion, and social movements, his final anaylsis seems a bit simplistic. Hunter suggests that most of the current debates within American public culture can be expressed as struggles between two monolithic groups. However, other authors who have responded to Hunter's work have taken issue with this point, arguing that in terms of attitudes toward economic justice, the alignments that Hunter describes do not hold. In general, Hunter has provided an accessible, provocative account of contemporary conflicts in the public realm. His conclusions about what these conflicts mean for the future of American democracy are also quite insightful. The main limitation of the work is that his analysis may be overly simplistic, with not enough attention paid to the nuances of the debates that he describes.
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