The Masterless: Self & Society in Modern America

by Wilfred M. McClay

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.

Genres: History, American History, Philosophy

380 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Wilfred M. McClay is the G. T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty at the University of Oklahoma, and the Director of the Center for the History of Liberty. His book The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America was awarded the Merle Curti Award of the Organization of American Historians for the best book in American intellectual history. Among his other books are The Student’s Guide to U.S. History, Religion Returns to the Public Square: Faith and Policy in America, Figures in the Carpet: Finding the Human Person in the American Past, Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Public Life in Modern America, and Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story.

Prof. McClay served on the National Council on the Humanities, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Humanities, for eleven years. He is a member of the U.S. Commission on the Semi-quincentennial, which has been charged with planning the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Academy of Education. He is a graduate of St. John’s College (Annapolis) and received his PhD in History from the Johns Hopkins University.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I anticipated this would be merely one more Laschian lament for a sort of communitarian/republican blend of neotraditionalist (and crypto-patriarchal) odes to the solid self and condemnations of the therapeutic culture. But I was wrong!

I do think McClay has more in common with Lasch, Lears, Fox, Sklansky, Bellah, Putnam, et al. than I do, but McClay is far more genuinely interested in the perspective of those of a more Deweyan persuasion and is infinitely more committed to ambivalence than is ever allowed by the rhadamanthine solemnity of the Laschians.

McClay is a graceful writer and an intelligent critic of morals, though he falls into neither trap which his skills set for him: he is neither a mere stylist nor a mere moralist. I enjoyed this book a great deal and, more, I admire it.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

McClay's monograph is the best exposition I've read on the tension between individualism and community. The setting is from post-bellum America until the 1990s. Even the autonomous individual serves someone; and yet, paradoxically he or she yearns for community.