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Michael J. Sandel
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Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy Paperback – February 6, 1998

by Michael J. Sandel (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 38 ratings
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Democracy’s Discontent: A New Edition for Our Perilous Times
Democracy’s Discontent: A New Edition for Our Perilous Times
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The defect, Sandel maintains, lies in the impoverished vision of citizenship and community shared by Democrats and Republicans alike. American politics has lost its civic voice, leaving both liberals and conservatives unable to inspire the sense of community and civic engagement that self-government requires.

In search of a public philosophy adequate to our time, Sandel ranges across the American political experience, recalling the arguments of Jefferson and Hamilton, Lincoln and Douglas, Holmes and Brandeis, FDR and Reagan. He relates epic debates over slavery and industrial capitalism to contemporary controversies over the welfare state, religion, abortion, gay rights, and hate speech. Democracy's Discontent provides a new interpretation of the American political and constitutional tradition that offers hope of rejuvenating our civic life.

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  1. Print length
    432 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The Belknap Press
  4. Publication date
    February 6, 1998
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0674197453
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0674197459
  8. See all details
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • William R. Hull
    5.0 out of 5 stars If you're into exploring our distrust for politicans today, pick this up
    Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Never have I cited a book more in all my life as this book when in conversation with friends, family or just on Facebook. This book really gets to the bottom of our uneasiness toward our elected leaders and civilized American society in general. At the crux of the discussion is a fundamental argument that there is a tension between what is best for the common good versus what is best for the individual's interest. It has existed since the foundation of the United States and continues to this day with common good consistently loosing ground for the individual's self-interest gaining ground conceded by actions in society benefiting the common good.

    Dr. Sandel explores history through the prism of political philosophy and he has held a great many talks and lectures (BBC Reith Lectures at Harvard University chief among them) on the topic (you can search for him on YouTube). They are always engaging and intriguing should you have a moment to watch. I would pick up this book again in a heartbeat. I highly recommend you do the same.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read
    Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Had to read this book for class and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was surprised to see Sandal acknowledge that the Bill of Rights was intended to limit the federal government, not the states. Academics, historians, politicians and media have done a good job of burying this fact, and aside from constitutionalists, libertarians and Ron Paul supporters, you almost never find somebody who understands how the Bill of Rights is supposed to work in the federated republic.

    Sandel presents interesting ideas in this book that hearken back to a Rousseau. To ensure the survival of the American Republic, Sandel recommends a return to community and self-government that has not been practiced in the United States for a long time.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • A
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2017
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    Absolutely brilliant work
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  • NikNik
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2015
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    Interesting read
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  • Brett Alan Williams
    5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking historical perspective
    Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2022
    A second read of this book was better than the first. Prefiguring by 22 years Deneen’s <i>Why Liberalism Failed</i>, for Sandel, too, the demise of the West started early. Though for Deneen, it was seeded from the start with a market and a state that would naturally expand together to eviscerate us. For Sandel, it’s a perversion of what was a more ideal past in terms of society’s foundational concepts and goals, though again, the focus is state and market.

    Sandel has three themes. 1) In the beginning, rights were not paramount to the American founding or the Founders. Individual rights were noted (at behest of the Anti-Federalists), but the unwritten fiber of the new Americans was communitarian. That was a given; it didn’t need elaboration. Over time, individual rights rose to prominence over concepts of the good life with its emphasis on community. A progressively rights-centered society, spurred by outcomes of the post-Civil War’s 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, elevated the Supreme Court’s eventual sanctification of rights over a common good, thereby neutralizing founding social morals. An example of unintended consequences; good ideas gone wrong. Individualism accelerated at the expense of stalling communities until we would eventually live in the disconnected, non-participatory nation with no communities we now experience. Where government neutrality on “the good life” became moral neutrality among the populous. Where freedom of speech is about autonomy of individual free choice expression unencumbered by social values or impacts of that speech. Sacred autonomy. As Sandel puts it, “Liberated and dispossessed.”

    2) Sandel’s second theme is the negative consequence—again on community—from the evolution of “political economy,” that notion of Adam Smith’s: that the form of economic system has a moral impact on the people who conform to it. Like Jefferson’s complaint that “wage slaves” would “beget subservience and venality,” Sandel writes, “Instead of asking how to elevate or improve or restrain people’s preferences, it asks how best—most fully, or fairly, or efficiently—to satisfy them.” The realm of economists, not political economists, and hence, the rise of materialist consumerism where each new purchase is an exercise in purpose with little meaning. So, like a drug, we need another hit, then another, to give us a sense of… something—agency, choice, satisfaction, temporary as it is. Such are the effects of moral neutrality in the economic arena.

    3) Political neutrality. There’s no longer an assumption that politics is about a deliberative identification and cooperative pursuit of “the common good” but rather mere competitive bargaining among interest groups with no attempt to value interests for the whole. After Sandel wrote this book, this concept expanded to become identity politics, where interests are not that of markets but race, gender, minority, victim.

    A thought-provoking historical perspective.
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  • B.M. Allan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Alternative history of America's public philosophy
    Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2008
    In "Democracy's Discotent," the brilliant political philosopher Michael Sandel provides an overview of American legal history, jurisprudence, visions of citizenship, and economic policymaking through the lens of civic republicanism.

    In fact, Sandel argues, civic republicanism represents much more than a mere strand among many woven into the philosophical fabric of America's founding and perpetuation: civic republican traditions (like cultivating the virtue of citizens, seeking economic justice, and making substantive judgments on controversial moral and political issues) are at the *heart* of our republic, and were prominently so until only very recently.

    Sandel traces the emergence of liberalism as the dominant American public philosophy to a cluster of recent Supreme Court decisions and market-based economic policies. In explaining how liberalism has come to define and dominate the terms of the debate in articulating an American public philosophy, Sandel is cogent and persuasive. His brand of civic republicanism is as insightful as his criticisms of Rawlsian liberalism in "Liberalism and the Limits of Justice" but with greater so-called "real world" applicability.

    Sandel is a public intellectual of the first order and this is a fine book of American legal, economic, and philosophical history. Highly recommended for students of political science.

    Other terrific books about the American founding and civic republicanism: "The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787" by Gordon Wood and "The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition" by J.G.A. Pocock.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • MARCO1970
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2014
    Absolutely great....!!
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Christine Hung
    5.0 out of 5 stars Knowledge and technology as well as analysis.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Knowledge and technology as well as analysis. Very useful and practising as well as professional analysis and academical analysis.
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  • DelS
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another good Sandel read
    Reviewed in Canada on December 17, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I'm impressed, as always, with Dr Sandel's desire to encourage discussion in a society where discussion of important subjects is rare and even avoided by many. Worth the read for sure
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  • Martin kirsopp
    5.0 out of 5 stars sandell at his best
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Very in-depth look into the history of our human philosophies from Aristotle to modern day. The evolution and results of politics and it's effects on society. Anyone who wants a better grasp on politics and philosophy should read this.
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  • Mr. P. C. B. Connolly
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Interested in anything bt Sandel - American focus, but I knew this already - still very interesting
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