Communitarianism

The communitarian tradition has its origins in the nineteenth-century socialist utopianism of thinkers such as Robert Owen and Peter Kropotkin. Indeed, a concern with community can be seen as one of the enduring themes in modern political thought, expressed variously in the socialist stress upon fraternity and cooperation, the Marxist (see p. 82) belief in a classless communist society, the conservative (see p. 138) view of society as an organic whole, bound together by mutual obligations, and even in the fascist commitment to an indivisible national community. However, communitarianism as a school of thought articulating a particular political philosophy emerged only in the 1980s and 1990s. It developed specifically as a critique of liberalism, highlighting the damage done to the public culture of liberal societies by their emphasis upon individual rights and liberties over the needs of the community. This resulted in the so-called liberal–communitarian debate. ‘High’ and ‘low’ forms of communitarianism are sometimes identified: the former engages primarily in philosophical debate, while the latter, whose best-known figure is Amitai Etzioni, is more concerned with issues of public policy.

From the communitarian perspective, the central defect of liberalism is its view of the individual as an asocial, atomized, ‘unencumbered self’. Such a view is evident in the utilitarian (see p. 358) assumption that human beings are rationally self-seeking creatures. Communitarians emphasize, by contrast, that the self is embedded in the community, in the sense that each individual is a kind of embodiment of the society that has shaped his or her desires, values and purposes. This draws attention not merely to the process of socialization, but also to the conceptual impossibility of separating an individual’s experiences and beliefs from the social context that assigns them meaning. The communitarian stance has particular implications for our understanding of justice. Liberal theories of justice tend to be based upon assumptions about personal choice and individual behaviour that, communitarians argue, make no sense because they apply to a disembodied subject. Universalist theories of justice must therefore give way to ones that are strictly local and particular, a position similar to that advanced by postmodern theories (see p. 7).

Communitarians argue that their aim is to rectify an imbalance in modern society and political thought in which individuals, unconstrained by social duty and moral responsibility, have been allowed or encouraged to take account only of their own interests and their own rights. In this moral vacuum, society, quite literally, disintegrates. The communitarian project thus attempts to restore to society its moral voice and, in a tradition that can be traced back to Aristotle (see p. 69), to construct a ‘politics of the common good’. Critics of communitarianism, however, allege that it has both conservative and authoritarian implications. Communitarianism has a conservative disposition in that it amounts to a defence of existing social structures and moral codes. Feminists, for example, have criticized communitarianism for attempting to bolster traditional sex roles under the guise of defending the family. The authoritarian features of communitarianism stem from its tendency to emphasise the duties and responsibilities of the individual over his or her rights and entitlements.

Key figures

Alasdair MacIntyre (1929– ) A Scottish-born moral philosopher, MacIntyre has developed a neoclassical and anti-liberal communitarian philosophy. In his view, liberalism preaches moral relativism and so is unable to provide a moral basis for social order. He argues that notions of justice and virtue are specific to particular intellectual traditions, and has developed a model of the good life that is rooted in Aristotle and the Christian tradition of Augustine (see p. 91) and St Thomas Aquinas (see p. 158). MacIntyre’s major works include After Virtue (1981), Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1988) and Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry (1990).

Michael Walzer (1935– ) A US political theorist, Walzer has developed a form of communalist and pluralistic liberalism. He rejects as misguided the quest for a universal theory of justice, arguing instead for the principle of ‘complex equality’, according to which different rules should apply to the distribution of different social goods, thereby establishing separate ‘spheres’ of justice. He nevertheless evinces sympathy for a form of democratic socialism. Walzer’s major works include Spheres of Justice (1983) and Interpretation and Social Criticism (1987).

Michael Sandel (1953– ) A US political theorist, Sandel has fiercely criticised individualism, the notion of the ‘unencumbered self’. He argues for conceptions of moral and social life that are firmly embedded in distinctive communities, and emphasises that individual choice and identity are structured by the ‘moral ties’ of the community. Sandel has also warned that a lack of embeddedness means that democracy may not long endure, and supports ‘civic republicanism’ (see p. 205), which he associates with the US political tradition. Sandel’s most influential works include Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982) and Democracy’s Discontent (1996).

Further reading

Avineri, S. and De-Shalit, A. (eds) Communitarianism and Individualism.

Oxford University Press, 1992.

Miller, F. D. and Paul, J. (eds) The Communitarian Challenge to Liberalism.

Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Tam, H. Communitarianism: A New Agenda for Politics and Citizenship.

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998.