In this provocative book, Wilfred McClay considers the long-standing
tension between individualism and social cohesion in conceptions of
American culture. Exploring ideas of unity and diversity as they have
evolved since the Civil War, he illuminates the historical background to
our ongoing search for social connectedness and sources of authority in
a society increasingly dominated by the premises of individualism.
McClay borrows D. H. Lawrence's term 'masterless men'--extending its
meaning to women as well--and argues that it is expressive of both the
promise and the peril inherent in the modern American social order.
Drawing upon a wide range of disciplines--including literature,
sociology, political science, philosophy, psychology, and feminist
theory--McClay identifies a competition between visions of dispersion on
the one hand and coalescence on the other as modes of social
organization. In addition, he employs intellectual biography to
illuminate the intersection of these ideas with the personal experiences
of the thinkers articulating them and shows how these shifting visions
are manifestations of a more general ambivalence about the process of
national integration and centralization that has characterized modern
American economic, political, and cultural life.
