One Nation, After All : What Americans Really Think About God, Country, Family, Racism, Welfare, Immigration, Homosexuality, Work, The Right, The Left and Each Other,Books,Free Shipping,014027572X,

	One Nation, After All : What Americans Really Think About God, Country, Family, Racism, Welfare, Immigration, Homosexuality, Work, The Right, The Left and Each Other by Alan Wolfe
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Product Details Binding Paperback Dewey Decimal Number 305.550973 EAN 9780140275728 ISBN 014027572X Manufacturer Penguin (Non-Classics) Number Of Items 1 Number Of Pages 368 Publication Date March 01, 1999 Publisher Penguin (Non-Classics) Availability Usually ships in 24 hours Product Description The subject of great critical acclaim and extensive review attention, One Nation, After All concludes that the reports of cultural divides are highly exaggerated, and Americans agree about much more--on religion, family, race, and morality--than politicians and media pundits would have us believe. These are among the surprising findings reached by renowned sociologist Alan Wolfe after two years of listening to middle-class citizens in eight communities around the nation. In frank and often moving language, middle-class Americans, 'left' and 'right,' express their views about immigrants of all races--whom they welcome but insist should learn English and work hard--and about giving a second chance to the deserving poor but not to the undeserving. They are remarkably tolerant on questions of religion, affirmative action, and family issues--but not about homosexuality. Wolfe's study, which has already had an impact on the way we discuss domestic politics, disproves thought cliches that have wrongly polarized Americans, and shows the many values that hold our nation together. Few academics write as crisply as the sociologist Alan Wolfe, and even fewer are capable of making the penetrating insights that sprinkle the pages of this engaging study of suburban psychology. Based on 200 extensive interviews with middle-class Americans, Wolfe's study uncovers a striking tolerance. Americans, according to the author, can be quite harsh when judging their own behavior, but they exhibit a hands-off approach with others. (Wolfe also cites an exception to this rule: homosexuality.) Americans are not torn apart by any kind of cultural war, contrary to the claims of intellectuals on both the right and left. Instead, writes Wolfe, they are a practical people willing to accept social change. Forget the shallow opinion polls that appear every few days in the news. One Nation, After All comes closer to the real pulse of the American people than just about any other you will find. The nation is divided between the pro-welfare, pro-choice Left and the pro-family, anti-Left Right, right? Wrong, says sociologist Wolfe, who argues that Americans agree on most issues. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. For what sociologist Wolfe calls the Middle Class Morality Project, he and an assistant interviewed 200 persons in 8 U.S. suburbs. The sample was too small for the findings to be nationally accurate, but was demographically balanced enough for them to be persuasively indicative of the entire American middle class. It was also small enough to accommodate long responses to questions about the right and wrong of the issues of the day. Wolfe discovered 'over and over again, . . . ways in which polls do not get opinion in the country quite right.' For instance, a large majority of the 200 felt homosexuality is immoral, but a majority also supported equal civil rights for gays. A great many objected to affirmative action, but staunchly advocated helping disadvantaged persons on the path to middle-class status. They thought of women working not in terms of rights but in terms of self-discovery. Their religious faith, though sometimes vehemently affirmed, was quite lacking in zealotry. And so on. Notably tolerant and disinclined to fight the culture war that partisan commentators say is raging in America, they upheld what Wolfe characterizes as 'morality writ small,' which is largely a matter of personal responsibility for obligations close to home. A committed liberal, Wolfe regrets such modest morality. Many others may welcome it, even with tears of relief. Americans aren't so awful, after all. Ray Olson Sociologist (Boston Univ.) and social critic par excellence, Wolfe (Marginalized in the Middle, not reviewed, etc.) scores again with this thorough, edifying, and engrossing study of the fabled but elusive American middle class. Based on his Middle Class Morality Project, a group of 200 interviews conducted by Wolfe himself in eight middle-class suburbs of four citiesAtlanta (DeKalb and Cobb counties), Boston (Brookline and Medford), San Diego (Eastlake and Rancho Bernardo), and Tulsa (Broken Arrow and Sand Springs)this intimate study is a smooth read. Wolfe is master of his material, and his easy, levelheaded style keeps you reading to the end, even if only to hear the ``silent majority's'' thoughtful answers to his pointed questions about religion (``quiet faith'' is the rule), welfare (good in principle, but poorly executed), racism (``Whites are against affirmative action, blacks tend to be for it, and Hispanics are split down the middle''), patriotism (robust, but skeptical), and family (``let people make those decisions that best fit themselves''). Wolfe's bottom line is that ``there are strong divisions in middle-class America . . . people in Brookline clearly do not think the same way as people in Tulsa.'' He grants, therefore, that America is experiencing a culture war, but ``one that is being fought primarily by intellectuals, not by most Americans themselves.'' Americans are far less polarized politically than pundits would have us believe, and lean instead, toward a ``sensible center,'' where compromise and tolerance guide public life. Americans share a strong libertarian streak, or as Wolfe couches it, ``respect for moral freedom and nonjudgmentalism cut so deep'' among middle-class Americans that they are willing to accept even the things they disapprove of most strongly (e.g., homosexuality, one of the most widely reviled). Wolfe's round-up is an absolute must for anyone who wants or, in every politician's case, needs to know how Americans think. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. ...done ... with diligence and with scrupulous self-discipline... Mr. Wolfe did what the best researchers of any generation do: He listened carefully and sought to put his own preconceptions aside. -- The Wall Street Journal, Alan Ehrenhalt In many respects, what Wolfe has done is to refresh and update the enduring image of a practical-minded, generous, self-interested, 'middling,' and unheroic American people that was described so memorably by Alexis de Tocqueville, its first great observer. There is real value in being reminded of these enduring characteristics, particularly when so much social-scientific inquiry, imbued with the values of the cultural Left, has been intent on denigrating the middle class as a seedbed of social and psychological pathology. Yet, there is a kind of moral liberality that may really be a form of cowardice, and a kind of tolerance that may really be a mask for self-protective indifference, of the kind signaled in that weary word of our day, 'whatever....' Just so, there is a kind of agreeableness that can be a mask for cynicism or loss of conviction; a kind of sentimental openness, or inclusiveness, that may mask a contempt for truth; and a kind of eclecticism that masks the inability to make hard choices. All these moral possibilities are no less inherent in the portrait of middle-class America Wolfe has painted than is the live-and-let-live pragmatism he extols. This is hardly to deny the many good things that have derived from that pragmatism. The tolerance for cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity that has become a defining feature of contemporary American life is a particularly admirable development. And without a doubt, modest virtues are genuine virtues. But as Wolfe himself acknowledges, they are not enough. -- Commentary, Wilfred M. McClay The subject of great critical acclaim and extensive review attention, One Nation, After All concludes that the reports of cultural divides are highly exaggerated, and Americans agree about much more--on religion, family, race, and morality--than politicians and media pundits would have us believe. These are among the surprising findings reached by renowned sociologist Alan Wolfe after two years of listening to middle-class citizens in eight communities around the nation. In frank and often moving language, middle-class Americans, 'left' and 'right,' express their views about immigrants of all races--whom they welcome but insist should learn English and work hard--and about giving a second chance to the deserving poor but not to the undeserving. They are remarkably tolerant on questions of religion, affirmative action, and family issues--but not about homosexuality. Wolfe's study, which has already had an impact on the way we discuss domestic politics, disproves thought cliches that have wrongly polarized Americans, and shows the many values that hold our nation together. Customers who bought this item also bought Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (Great Questions in Politics Series) (2nd Edition) (Great Questions in Politics) Culture Wars: The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America Is There a Culture War?: A Dialogue on Values And American Public Life Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community Return to Greatness: How America Lost Its Sense of Purpose and What It Needs to Do to Recover It Customer Reviews for: One Nation, After All : What Americans Really Think About God, Country, Family, Racism, Welfare, Immigration, Homosexuality, Work, The Right, The Left and Each Other Rating - Alternative alternative views Though I have not read this book, the last review begs for a response... if you are interested in accounts that go beyond the red and blue divisions and explore similarities, I recommend "Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America" by Morris Fiorina, a Stanford political scientist. "Culture War?" is a marvelous little book, arguing that the great majority of Americans (i.e. all American citizens minus political elites and extremists) ... Read More Rating - Thorough insight into middle class america I had to read this book for my introductory Sociology class, and did so purely out of requirement. However, what I found was that I actually liked the book. It was excellently written and the research behind it was sound. It offers a glimpse into the American middle class that is both interesting and important. I look forward to reading more books by Alan Wolfe. Rating - Hard to Read? Yes...but worth it I agree with Denise's review that this book offers hope more than anything else. It is rather academic, and does make you want to put it down. Nonetheless, in a world where TV commentators routinely portray Americans as "us and them" based on, say, their presidential vote, it is refreshing to read of alternative views. We are more similar than dissimilar - it just won't make for an electrifying show on "Crossfire" or "Hardball". Read More Rating - Comforting Piece of Social Research One Nation After All is an excellent analysis for a fascinationg social research project focusing on the American Middle Class. The study and subsequent analysis is a well thought out, detailed work packed with citations and comparisons. As an added plus, the study shows that overall, the American Middle Class is basically a tolerant, reasonable group of people who prefer NOT to tell others how to live their lives. For ... Read More see more reviews See all books by author Alan Wolfe

Books : One Nation, After All : What Americans Really Think About God, Country, Family, Racism, Welfare, Immigration, Homosexuality, Work, The Right, The Left and Each Other