The sentimental citizen : emotion in democratic politics / George E. Marcus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marcus, George E., 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

United States.

Democracy--United States.

Democracy.

Emotions.

Reason.

Physical Description:

viii, 171 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, [2002]

Summary:

This book challenges the conventional wisdom that improving democratic politics requires keeping emotion out of it. Marcus advances the provocative claim that the tradition in democratic theory of treating emotion and reason as hostile opposites is misguided and leads contemporary theorists to misdiagnose the current state of American democracy. Instead of viewing the presence of emotion in politics as a failure of rationality and therefore as a failure of citizenship, Marcus argues, democratic theorists need to understand that emotions are in fact a prerequisite for the exercise of reason and thus essential for rational democratic deliberation and political judgment. Attempts to purge emotion from public life not only are destined to fail but ultimately would rob democracies of a key source of revitalization and change. Drawing on recent research in neuroscience, Marcus shows how emotion functions generally and what role it plays in politics. Marcus concludes that we should recognize sentimental citizens as the only citizens really capable of exercising reasoned political judgment and putting their decisions into action.

Contents:

2 Emotion Conventionally Understood 9

3 The Requirements of Citizenship 33

4 Becoming Reacquainted with Emotion 49

5 The Uses of Habit and Enthusiasm 79

6 The Uses of Anxiety 99

7 The Dangers of Loathing 119

8 The Sentimental Citizen 133.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 149-166) and index.

ISBN:

0271022116

0271022124

OCLC:

48390913