The Revolt of the Elites: And the Betrayal of Democracy [Hardcover]

Christopher Lasch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1995

In this challenging work, Christopher Lasch makes his most accessible critique yet of what is wrong with the values and beliefs of America's professional and managerial elites. The distinguished historian argues that democracy today is threatened not by the masses, as Jose Ortega y Gasset (The Revolt of the Masses) had said, but by the elites. These elites - mobile and increasingly global in outlook - refuse to accept limits or ties to nation and place. Lasch contends that, as they isolate themselves in their networks and enclaves, they abandon the middle class, divide the nation, and betray the idea of a democracy for all America's citizens. The book is historical writing at its best, using the past to reveal the roots of our current dilemma. The author traces how meritocracy - selective elevation into the elite - gradually replaced the original American democratic ideal of competence and respect for every man. Among other cultural trends, he trenchantly criticizes the vogue for self-esteem over achievement as a false remedy for deeper social problems, and attacks the superior pseudoradicalism of the academic left. Brilliantly he reveals why it is no wonder that Americans are apathetic about their common culture and see no point in arguing politics or voting. In a powerful final section Lasch traces the spiritual crisis of democracy. The elites, having jettisoned the moral and ethical guidelines provided by religion, cling to the belief that through science they can master their fates and escape mortal limits. In pursuit of this illusion they have become infatuated with the global economy. Their revolt, the author warns, is diminishing what is worthwhile about American life. Thisvolume, completed just before the author's death, continues in his tradition of vigorous and original thought and should stir soul-searching among readers concerned about the future of America and its democracy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title (its play on Jose Ortega y Gasset's The Revolt of the Masses, notwithstanding) misserves this collection of essays, for Lasch's criticism that the elites have become cosmopolites in a global marketplace that disdains loyalty to locale is only one aspect of the crises the late author defines. Myriad factors in concert, he shows, including multiculturism, entitlements, mobility, secularization, our therapeutic culture and the professionalization of knowledge, have unsettled Americans' frame of reference. "Common standards are absolutely indispensable to a democratic society," stresses Lasch (The Culture of Narcissism), standards he says we have lost, like the work ethic, individual responsibility, self-restraint and civility. In these essays, some of which were previously published in scholarly journals, Lasch is so encompassing, arguing with such an array of received wisdom-Horace Mann, John Dewey, et al.
that the book is too dense, its focus blurred rather than clarified by its scattershot range.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

If you don't think that democracies are being threatened from without by benevolent dictatorships, then maybe you'll agree that they are being threatened from within by self-serving elites. From the author of the best-selling The Culture of Narcissism (LJ 4/15/78), who completed this work shortly before his death.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393036995
• ISBN-13: 978-0393036992
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sobering look at democracy in the New Economy, December 22, 2000

By 

Stephen M. Bainbridge "www.professorbainbridg... (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Revolt of the Elites: And the Betrayal of Democracy (Hardcover)

In "the Revolt of the Elites" Christoper Lasch powerfully and persuasively contends that that the values and attitudes of professional and managerial elites and those of the working classes have dramatically diverged. Although the claim is controverted, many of us on the right (especially social conservatives) agree with the quasi-populist/communitarian notion that democracy works best when all members of society can participate in a world of upward mobility and of achievable status. In such a world, members of society will perceive themselves as belonging to the same team and care about ensuring that that team succeeds. But how can society achieve this sort of mutual interdependence if its members are not part of a community of shared values? As Christopher Lasch explains: "[T]he new elites, the professional classes in particular, regard the masses with mingled scorn and apprehension." For too many of these elites, the values of "Middle America" - a/k/a "fly-over country" - are mindless patriotism, religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, and retrograde views of women. "Middle Americans, as they appear to the makers of educated opinion, are hopelessly shabby, unfashionable, and provincial, ill informed about changes in taste or intellectual trends, addicted to trashy novels of romance and adventure, and stupefied by prolonged exposure to television. They are at once absurd and vaguely menacing." (28)

The tension between elite and non-elite attitudes is most pronounced with respect to religious belief. While our society admittedly is increasingly pluralistic, "the democratic reality, even, if you will, the raw demographic reality," as Father Neuhaus has observed, "is that most Americans derive their values and visions from the biblical tradition." Yet, Lasch points out, elite attitudes towards religion are increasingly hostile: "A skeptical, iconoclastic state of mind is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the knowledge classes. ... The elites' attitude to religion ranges from indifference to active hostility." (215)

Lash claims that the divergence in elite and non-elite attitudes is troubling for the future of democracy. Its hard for me to gainsay him. Yet, while "The Revolt of the Elites" is sobering - even a tad depressing - it deserves to be read even more widely than it has been. Lasch is no partisan. Conservative proponents of unfettered capitalism get bashed about the head by Lasch just as much as liberal critics of capitalism. Populists will find themselves nodding in agreement with some sections, while communitarians will concur with other sections. About the only folks who will be offended by all of "The Revolt of the Elites" are hardened libertarians and extreme left-liberals. Highly recommended.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PROVOCATIVE INSIGHTS ABOUT THE WORKINGS OF MODERN DEMOCRACY, June 20, 2002

By 

Luciano Lupini (Caracas Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Revolt of the Elites: And the Betrayal of Democracy (Hardcover)

This book is very interesting and provocative. Nobody seriously interested in political science, the structure of society and government, the need to reassess democracy and reconsider the roles of pressure groups, should overlook this last contribution by professor Lash.
According to the author, modern democracy is not only challenged by the masses (as Ortega y Gasset stated in its Revolt of the Masses), but also, and mostly, by the elites. Modern elites are not anymore connected with their geographical and social background and roots, they have a global vision and ambition, and do not accept any constraints and limits in the pursuance of their egotistical interests, which are basically money oriented. It is now common for the leaders and members of the ruling meritocracy to base self esteem upon success, material success, and to downplay humanistic ideals such as respect and tolerance.
The ideas and perceptions of Lash must provoke serious rethinking about the effective level of "democraticity" of the modern political structure, and the remedies that have to be conceived to ensure a truly democratic participation of the citizens in the exercise or control of power and government.
I would suggest that this book has to be accompanied by other works on the subject of democracy and elitism, in order to appreciate the dangers and pitfalls of the transformation and "materialization" of the values of the elites, and its overall effect upon the system analyzed by Lash. So read this book, but also the classic works by Robert Michels and Maurice Duverger about political parties, elites and pressure groups. Also, the book by Vilfredo Pareto "The rise and the fall of Elites" and the recent "Democracy and its critics" by Robert Dahl. You will then understand better this caveat by professor Lash, within the context of modern democracy.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Reply to Ortega y Gasset, October 1, 2004

By 

Jeffrey Morseburg (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy (Paperback)

Christopher Lasch (1932-1994) was a historian and penetrating social critic. In his articles, essays and books, he challenged everyone - modern liberals and conservatives as well as the leftist and academic elite. While one did not have to agree with his conclusions, he was a man who always asked questions that needed to be answered, and raised issues that needed to be confronted. Politically, Lasch could probably be best described as a New Deal liberal, for he was very suspicious of both unfettered consumer capitalism and the rise of the New Left, whose goals and views he felt were in direct opposition to American values. He could also be described as a "thoughtful declinist" but one who always held out hope for the future.

In this book, Lasch's the last one published during the author's lifetime, he argued that America was not in danger from the "Revolt of the Masses" which was the title of Jose Ortega y Gasset's landmark book which was written in 1932, in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of Fascism, but that we are threatened by a "Revolt of the Elites." In 1994, Lasch had come to believe that the economic and cultural elite of the United States, who historically has insured the continuity of a culture, had lost faith in the traditional values that had animated and organized our culture since its inception. He saw a threat to the continuation of western civilization was not a mass revolt as envisioned by the pro-communist New Left of the 1960's, but a rejection of its liberal and pluralistic values by the educated elite that run its institutions and educate its children. Lasch's last question was an important one: can a society survive when a significant portion of its elite have forsaken its founding principles?