The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil [Hardcover]

James Davison Hunter (Author), James Hunter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2000

The Death of Character is a broad historical, sociological, and cultural inquiry into the moral life and moral education of young Americans based upon a huge empirical study of the children themselves. The children's thoughts and concerns-expressed here in their own words-shed a whole new light on what we can expect from moral education. Targeting new theories of education and the prominence of psychology over moral instruction, Hunter analyzes the making of a new cultural narcissism.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For sociologist James Davison Hunter, the defining problem of contemporary society is moral education and character formation--or, rather, the lack of meaningful moral education and real character development. In Hunter's view, the titular death of character is a result of the disappearance of the conditions that make moral education possible in the first place. It is a consequence of overwhelming historical forces that defy individual moral agency; multinational capitalism, pluralism, social mobility, contemporary media, and popular culture all play a role.

Hunter understands the roots of moral education and character to be essentially social--involving the complex weave of social, familial, and institutional relationships that are the fabric of culture--and embedded in historical understanding, in shared traditions, and in collective memories. He is skeptical of current agents for moral education who come in the guise of developmental psychologists, neoclassical advocates (traditionalists), and communitarians. Arguing that contemporary American society is unwilling to pay the price associated with meaningful character renewal, he writes, "To have a renewal of character is to have a renewal of a creedal order that constrains, limits, binds, obligates, and compels.... We want character but without unyielding conviction.... We want virtue but without particular moral justifications that invariably offend.... We want decency without the authority to insist upon it." --Eric de Place

From Publishers Weekly

Turning his philosophical gaze again to questions of cultural importance, critic Hunter (Culture Wars) takes on morality and character. He contends (in an analysis that unfortunately remains somewhat abstract and theoretical) that a sense of objective morality, of right and wrong, has been replaced by a psychological approach to values: instead of being taught that there are absolutes by which they must abide, children are taught, "You'll feel better, if you do the right thing." Then Hunter lays out the implicationsAhaving replaced moral concepts of good and evil with therapeutic categories of desire and feeling, we have lost the ability to instill a sense of character in young people. Character-building depends on self-restraint, yet our focus today is on emotional self-fulfillment, not restraint. Thus, schools inevitably teach a kind of moral vagueness. By examining the changes during this century in language used by groups such as the Girl Scouts, Hunter traces the historical emergence of psychologized values fromAas he puts itAtheir origins in theological ones. He then examines the backlash attempts among some educators to recover objective valuesAand concludes that their efforts are doomed to fail. Indeed, we're looking for inspiration on the wrong side of the universal-particular axis: artificially mandated universal values will never save us, he writes. Only particulars, shaped by the specific histories of the communities that practice them, will. In the end, Hunter's premise is too sweeping to ring true. As a result, his volume is better at diagnosing the problems in contemporary education than solving them. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (July 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465047300
• ISBN-13: 978-0465047307
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,448,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Davison Hunter is LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia and Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. He is the author of Culture Wars and The Death of Character.

Photo by Kirsten Rose.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why Character Doesn't Count (anymore), August 8, 2000

By 

Nicholas K Meriwether (Portsmouth, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil (Hardcover)

The sociologist J. D. Hunter performs a tremendous service by diagnosing the reasons for the failure of current character education programs. In a nutshell, these programs have assimilated the methodological and philosophical assumptions of modern psychology, specifically its emphasis upon self-esteem and the notion of an innate moral disposition discovered through self-actualization. Character, however, is, according to Hunter, the product of sociation within communities in which the individual is under an externally-imposed authority. While the book strongly implies that pre-modern views of moral education had it essentially right, Hunter is critical of neo-classicists such as Wm. Bennett who neglect the fact that moral precepts cannot be lifted out of their particular moral traditions without serious loss of meaning. In this, Hunter is clearly indebted to the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, who is infrequently cited. Hunter clearly cannot be expected to capture this debate in all its complexity; nevertheless, he never addresses the single most important objection to his (and MacIntyre's) view of the particularity of practical reason: that it leads inevitably to relativism. Still, this is an extremely valuable book for anyone interested in character education, particularly regarding the relationship of character education to worldview commitments. It will also be of value to those who seek to understand the influence of modern Romanticism on 20th-century ideas and institutions, particularly within public education circles. One further note: the book is well-written and -researched, with a fine bibliography.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting; more about problems than solutions; tough read, July 7, 2002

By 

J. Lizzi (Costa Mesa, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil (Paperback)

Author James Davison Hunter is a very smart man who does a great job of tracing the changes in moral and social temperament over the years to show how weakened values and ideals have made their way into today's youth. "The Death of Character" has lots of important things to say about the "transformation of moral education" (the title of the book's largest part), and though Mr. Hunter's views are erudite, his writing is really hard to absorb. I'd be inclined to rate this more highly were it not for the fact that it took me forever to read. This book would be great as a university text.

Much of what is explained about how our children are turning out revolves around three strategies for moral education: psychological, neoclassical, and communitarian. I learned quite a bit reading about these approaches and their influence on not only "why Johnny can't read," but more importantly, "why Johnny lacks character." There's some good stuff to contemplate, and I found myself comparing my formative educational years with those of today's school kids. Yep, big difference. What Mr. Hunter has to say about the state of our youngsters must certainly be frustrating to the typical parent; however, there's not much in this book that addresses what to do about it. Disappointing in that regard.

Each page of "The Death of Character" is chock full of well-referenced, expository writing: full of discussion, argument and expanded viewpoints. Although truly interested in grasping all that Mr. Hunter had to convey, I found myself getting bogged down amidst cumbersome wording within too many long sentences that had me reading them over and over again to zero in on the point. My mind wandered frequently. The more than sixty(!) pages of notes were occasionally intimidating (some notes cover multiple pages of even tinier type).

Overall, the importance of the topics covered were outweighed by the low "readability factor." I'd have to tackle this book again to get out of it what I'd expected.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but....., March 28, 2001

By 

J. Michael Gallipo (Portsmouth, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil (Hardcover)

JD Hunter has written an interesting and yet ultimately unsatisfying account of the state of moral education in the United States. Where the book is successful is in tracing the history of moral education in the US - beginning with the first colonists and extending up through most of the major efforts of today. He also does an interesting job in showing the dominance of psychological thinking - even among that school's supposedly staunchest critics. While "conservative" critics attack the foundations of much of the mainstream moral education and its reliance on how one feels... underneath it, they have embraced many of those same ideas.

Where the book falls short however is putting it all in context. I finished the book and was left saying "and where does that leave us?" As the father of two young boys, I guess I was hoping for some more concrete ideas at the finish. That said, this book is still worth reading by anyone who is interested in the moral education of our children and leaves you with much to think about.