The Monochrome Society

Christian Century, Feb 13, 2002 by Bernard V. Brady

The Monochrome Society. By Amitai Etzioni. Princeton University Press, 297 pp., $24.95.

HAVE YOU EVER felt a bit empty, a bit unsatisfied, after hearing politicians (even those you support) explain their vision of a good society? Are you tired of drinking that favorite political brew, Utopia Lite? Do you ever ponder our dominant social ills--the pervasive poverty, the violence that marks lives and dominates entertainment, the family breakdown and high divorce rate so casually accepted these days? Have you ever thought that to reverse social disintegration we must go beyond the dominant political ideologies of our day? If you have, maybe you are not a liberal, a progressive or a new Democrat, not a social conservative or a neoconservative or even a regular conservative. Maybe you are a communitarian.

Communitarians believe that the main reason society is in such a mess is that people are excessively focused on self-interest. Exaggerated self-interest, self-indulgence and a general sense of permissiveness invites both individuals and corporations to function with little or no regard for the social good. Communitarians believe that society ought to be based on a commonly held moral order and that the responsibilities of individuals and businesses to that moral order are as important as their rights.

In America, even "conservatives" are fundamentally supporters of liberalism--liberalism being defined as the political position that defends individual freedom and autonomy; it maintains that humans have certain basic inalienable rights and that those rights make up the fundamental claims of public morality. Liberals, moreover, have confidence in human reason. They believe that people from diverse backgrounds can come together and rationally--that is, without passion or violence--discuss and resolve issues. Liberal liberals and conservative liberals differ on some issues, the most fundamental of which is the degree to which freedom and autonomy may justifiably be limited. They disagree also on the appropriate meaning and scope of freedom.

Liberal liberals tend to grant greater freedom in the area of personal and lifestyle choices and to be more willing to restrict freedom in some economic areas. For example, liberals tend to be accepting of homosexuality yet want to limit Smith and Wesson's freedom to sell handguns. Conservative liberals are more willing to place limitations on personal freedoms and to be proponents of unrestricted economic freedoms. Thus they tend to be less accepting both of homosexuality and of handgun control.

Liberals, both conservative and liberal, shy away from defending a substantive notion of the social good. Liberal liberals tend to be neutral on personal choice and become worded when groups or individuals become too strong or dogmatic. It is up to individuals to decide the good for themselves. Yet liberal liberals are more open to allowing the state to limit the freedom of businesses whose behavior is deemed harmful to the public good. Hence their concern with environmental regulations. Conservative liberals tend to refer to the market when the issue is products and pollution, but to be more open to state restrictions on personal lifestyle choices. Conservative liberals, for example, hold that it is good for society to limit or outlaw abortion and pornography and to make divorce laws more restrictive.

Communitarians believe that both kinds of liberals have a mistaken view of what it means to be a person. Persons are social beings, formed within relationships and with no identity apart from relationships. Communitarians use such phrases as "the socially embedded self" or "the dialogical self" or "persons-in-community" to describe people's essential nature. They hold that society can and must seek a shared definition of the good, and that the well-being of society must determine morality and social policy. The public good, to be truly a public good, must be discussed openly and publicly.

COMMUNITARIANISM is not simply a philosophy. It is a movement with a journal, The Responsive Community, and a Web site. The most consistent and vibrant voice in the communitarian movement is that of Amitai Etzioni. The author of 20 books and numerous articles, Etzioni is professor of sociology at George Washington University. He outlined the basics of communitarianism in his 1993 book The Spirit of Community.

The Monochrome Society, a collection of 13 essays, is second-level communitarian thought in that it does not so much explain communitarianism as develop its philosophy and practical implications. The title is a fitting image for Etzioni's view of American society. "Monochrome" refers to an artwork done in different shades of one color. In its common dreams and beliefs, Etzioni argues, American society is one color. Uniformity rather than radical diversity is the norm. In pluralistic America there is still consensus on fundamental moral ideas, such as democracy, tolerance, personal responsibility and the importance of work. Unlike traditional societies, we are bound together by ideas, not biology.