The Politics and Business of Self-Interest from Tocqueville to Trump

Self-interest is an important human motive and this book explores its evolution in the United States and its consequences for politics, business, and personal relationships. In the postwar era American understandings of self-interest have moved away from Alexis de Tocqueville's concept of "self-interest well-understood" - in which people recognize that their interests are served by the success of the community of which they are part - towards "individualism" - by which he meant narrow framing that often leads people to pursue their interests at the expense of the community. The book documents this evolution through qualitative and quantitative content analysis of presidential speeches, television sitcoms and popular music, before exploring its negative consequences for democracy.

List of contents

1 Introduction.- 2 Self-Interest.- 3 Presidential Speeches.- 4 I Love Lucy to Modern Family.- 5 Rock to Rap.- 6 Self-Interest and Democracy.

About the author

Richard Ned Lebow is Professor at King's College London, UK, and Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, UK. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and author of 35 books and almost 300 peer reviewed articles and book chapters in a career spanning six decades.

Summary

Explores underlying shifts in values and principles of justice to help account for political preferences
Uses Tocqueville's notion of 'self-interest well-understood' to consider the political scene in the US
Brings together empirical analysis of presidential speeches, sitcoms, and popular music with theoretical considerations of individualism 

Product details

• Authors: Richard Ned Lebow
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2017
• EAN: 9783319685687
• ISBN: 978-3-31-968568-7
• No. of pages: 125
• Dimensions: 153 mm x 14 mm x 217 mm
• Weight: 275 g
• Illustrations: IX, 125 p. 20 illus., 19 illus. in color.
• Series: International Political Theory; International Political Theory
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Comparative and international political science; C, Amerika, Democracy, Political Science, Political Theory, Political science & theory, Political structures: democracy, auseinandersetzen, Political Science and International Studies, United States of America, USA, US Politics, United States—Politics and government, American Politics, Politikwissenschaft und politische Theorie, American political crisis, Donald Trump and selfishness, political leadership in America, American political culture, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, popular culture and US politics, culture wars in America