The Search for Political Community
American Activists Reinventing Commitment

Study of environmental groups assessing different cultures of political commitment in post-traditional society.

Paul Lichterman (Author)

9780521483438, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 September 1996

292 pages, 8 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.43 kg

"Paul Lichterman's book is a good example of how social science knowledge can inform community practice." James Midgley, Social Science Review

This book challenges the myth that Americans' emphasis on personal fulfilment necessarily weakens commitment to the common good. Drawing on extensive participant-observation with a variety of environmentalist groups, Paul Lichterman argues that individualism sometimes enhances public, political commitment and that a shared respect for individual inspiration enables activists with diverse political backgrounds to work together. This personalised culture of commitment has sustained activists working long-term for social change. The book contrasts 'personalised politics' in mainly white environmental groups with a more traditional, community-centred culture of commitment in an African-American group. The untraditional, personalised politics of many recent social movements invites us to rethink common understandings of commitment, community, and individualism in a post-traditional world.

1. Personalism and political commitment
2. Personalized politics: the case of the US Greens
3. Speaking out in suburbia
4. Imagining community, organizing community
5. Culture, class, and life-ways of activism
6. Personalized politics and cultural radicalism since the 1960s
7. The search for political community
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Cultural studies [JFC]