Faded Mosaic
Contrary to today's widespread emphasis on "cultural diversity," the United States has become not a multicultural society but the world's first post-cultural society. Cultures, Christopher Clausen argues, have lost power over both public and private behavior. This largely unrecognized transformation has enormous importance for every area of American life, from marriage to politics. One of its most prevalent social expressions is an aimless, conformist individualism—because there is no longer...
Search in google:
Clausen, who has written widely on literature and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries, argues that while we no longer have a single dominant culture, our subcultures, or ancestral cultures, are not in very potent shape either. He shows how cultures have lost power over both our public and private behavior and looks at consequences on areas of American life from marriage to politics. He demonstrates how moral demands and collective identities of America's native and immigrant cultures have vanished. The author teaches at Pennsylvania State University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley A bracing antidote...Faded Mosaic is no mere exercise in semantic hairsplitting but an argument-to me a most persuasive one-that in these United States at this point in its history culture does not exist.
AcknowledgmentsviiIntroduction: Freedom and Nostalgia31.The Cult of "Culture"182.Multiculturalism as Museum493.Intermarriage and the 2050 Fallacy864.Mass Individualism and the End of Culture1195.Toward a Post-Cultural World?156Notes189Index197
\ AmericaClausen treats these crucial questions with acumen, balance, and unpedantic style.\ — Peter Heinegg\ \ \ \ \ Boston GlobeA provocative book that sets forth an uncomfortable truth: a cafeteria culture will serve nothing but junk food.\ — Bill Marx\ \ \ Partisan ReviewA crucial addition to the multi-culturalist debate...describes modern American life with disheartening accuracy.\ — Eric Adler\ \ \ \ \ Review Of Higher EducationA bracing antidote...Faded Mosaic is no mere exercise in semantic hairsplitting but an argument to me a most persuasive one that in these United States at this point in its history culture does not exist.\ — Jonathan Yardley\ \ \ \ \ The Boston GlobeA provocative book that sets forth an uncomfortable truth: a cafeteria culture will serve nothing but junk food.\ — Bill Marx\ \ \ \ \ The Wall Street JournalOriginal and penetrating...a serious critique of America and its mass identity crisis.\ — Eric Cohen\ \ \ \ \ Jonathan YardleyA bracing antidote...Faded Mosaic is no mere exercise in semantic hairsplitting but an argument-to me a most persuasive one-that in these United States at this point in its history culture does not exist. \ — Washington Post\ \ \ \ \ AdlerA crucial addition to the multi-culturalist debate...describes modern American life with disheartening accuracy. \ — Partisan Review\ \ \ \ \ CohenOriginal and penetrating...a serious critique of America and its mass identity crisis.
