Cart

Stories of Peoplehood
The Politics and Morals of Political Membership

$30.99 (G)

Part of Contemporary Political Theory

Author: Rogers M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania

Date Published: July 2003
availability: Available
format: Paperback
isbn: 9780521520034

Rate & review

$ 30.99 (G)
Paperback

Add to cart Add to wishlist

Other available formats:
Hardback, eBook

Looking for an examination copy?

If you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an examination copy. To register your interest please contact collegesales@cambridge.org providing details of the course you are teaching.

Description

How is a sense of belonging to a political community created? Rogers Smith suggests that Stories of Peoplehood, narratives which include racial, religious, ethnic and cultural elements, serve to make membership of a political group part of an individual's identity. He argues that competition over accounts of a nation's history and culture is thus an important part of political life. Examples from around the world since the 18th century are included. In particular, Smith traces the history of competing conceptions of national identity and citizenship in the United States from the revolution to the present day, showing the tension between liberal and egalitarian ideals, and traditions of racism and chauvinism. Combining theory with rich historical detail, Smith's book is an original and provocative account of how national identity is forged. Rogers M. Smith is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Smith centers his research on contitutional law, American political thought, and modern legal and political theory, with special interests in questions of citizenship, race, ethnicity and gender. His previous books include, Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History (Yale, 1997) and Liberalism and American Constitutional Law (Harvard, 1985).
- Shows how 'stories' of a common history and culture are used to bind nations together. An important contribution to debates on identity, citizenship and nationalism.
- Illustrated by examples from around the world, notably the history of competing conceptions of national identity and citizenship in the United States from the American Revolution to the present
- Rogers Smith is a leading US political scientist and political theorist, and this book is successor to 'Civic Ideals' (Yale 1997), which won six prizes across three academic disciplines
Read more
Reviews & endorsements
"[A]n exceptional starting point for dialogue regarding the relative health of American democracy and what might be done to reinvigorate it." Brian J. Gerber, Texas Tech University, Political Science Quarterly
"Rogers Smith's fresh and incisive intervention in debates about national solidarity exemplifies the combination of historical depth and theoretical acuity that have made Smith one of the most respected and influential political scientists of his generation." David A. Hollinger, University of California, Berkeley, author of Postethnic America
"This well-researched and provocatively argued work will interest theorists and students of comparative and American politics. Highly recommended." Choice
"In a book of formidable erudition and learning, Smith succeeds brilliantly in reviewing the vast literature on nationalism, reformulating it into a highly innovative and important thesis about peoplehood and demonstrating the analytical purchase of the derived 'ethically constitutive stories' as an approach to building better societies. Written in elegant prose, Smith's argument is illustrated with a dazzling array of examples, historical and contemporary, imagined and real. Many social scientists declaim the need for scholarship engaged with real political and social problems but few succeed as impressively as Rogers Smith does here. This is political science for our times, applying rigorous analysis to compelling moral challenges. I cannot recommend this book too strongly..." Desmond S. King, Oxford University
See more reviews
Customer reviews

Not yet reviewed
Be the first to review

Log in to review

Review was not posted due to profanity
×

, create a review

(If you're not , sign out)

Please enter the right captcha value

Please enter a star rating.

Your review must be a minimum of 12 words.

How do you rate this item?

Reviews must contain at least 12 words about the product.

×

Product details
- Date Published: July 2003
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521520034
- length: 248 pages
- dimensions: 229 x 152 x 17 mm
- weight: 0.402kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Introduction: on studying stories of peoplehood
Part I. Explaining the Political Role of Stories of Peoplehood:
1. Elements of a theory of people-making
2. The role of ethically constitutive stories
Part II. Constructing Political Peoplehood in Morally Defensible Ways:
3. Ethically constitutive stories and norms of allegiance
4. A pioneering people.
Look Inside
Author
Rogers M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania
Rogers M. Smith is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published over seventy articles and is author or co-author of the following books: The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America (with Philip A. Klinkner, 1990); Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History (1997); Citizenship without Consent: The Illegal Alien in the American Polity (with Peter H. Schuck, 1985); and Liberalism and American Constitutional Law (1985, rev. ed. 1990).