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5+ opere 148 membri 2 recensioni

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Thomas C Leonard is research scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, where he is also lecturer in the Department of Economics.

Opere di Thomas C. Leonard

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The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens (1931) — Prefazione, alcune edizioni199 copie

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A challenging book, an intellectual history that is not written as a narrative but around grand themes of the progressive movement. Some of the writing is confusing (especially difficult to follow without at least basic knowledge of the progressive movement, I struggled since it's been a while since I've read up on all my reform movements) and Leonard clearly is sympathetic to the pre-progressive era. The book is a fascinating read that does not try to trade off nuance and understandability (i.e. the book is hard to understand and very nuanced).

Leonard tries to write a history of the progressive movement with all its associated grays, in particular on progressive era eugenics, which is a topic that is only recently starting to emerge into the more public eye (through books such as Imbecile). Leonard does not try to present the progressive movement as unified at all but grouped around certain themes. For example, on a long chapter about darwinism, it's clear that darwinism was used by both promoters of laissez faire economics (Herbert Spencer as promoting the most fit) as well as socialists (including the scientists Alfred Wallace and Muller who thought capitalism just promoted the predatory). Leonard writes a few times to remind the reader that progressivism as an ideology is not necessarily liberal or conservative (the title of book refers the fact that Leonard sees the progressives as repudiating the classical liberal conception of individual rights in favor of a social organism theory) but grounded in a set of ideas, in particular about the nation as a collective, technocratic rule, obsession with science and exclusion of certain people (from immigrants, to women, to the poor) in decision making.

Leonard makes it clear that eugenics was not an unfortunate incidental branch of the progressive movement but a central plank. Eugenics appealed fundamentally to all tenets of progressivism. It was seen as a scientifically valid theory to be administered by state experts that would improve the national stock. Eugenics was seen as a way to short cut nature and natural selection which either was too slow or wasteful or did not select for the desirable traits. It's disturbing to see how many luminaries of the progressive age promoted and espoused eugenics (it's almost all of them). The language these political, scientific and social leaders used to refer to eugenics is just truly sickening and disturbing. The wide popularity of eugenics is shocking. For example, after the scopes monkey trial, the textbook which already had a section on eugenics removed darwinism and expanded its section on eugenics. Along with the progressive's blind worship of the virtues of the objective scientist, they never questioned just how scientific or objective many of these theories were (including the idea that men are stronger than women because they have more water in their blood).

It's also really fascinating how many modern institutions and concepts arose out of this complex era. For example, the history of the minimum wage was actually deeply rooted in eugenic ideas. According to Leonard, many supporters of the minimum wage saw the the minimum wages as a means to cut out immigrant laborers out of the workforce. The progressives had the fear that foreign labor (tied closely to racial stereotypes) had lower standards of living and therefore demanded less wages, depressing wages for American labor. The fear of the influx of unskilled labor would depress American wages enabled the progressive to enact racially motivated quotas on immigration. However, for immigrants already in the country, the minimum wage would act as a way to criminalize any hiring of lower skilled labor and therefore separate out the "unworthy" for the administrative state to either sterilize or separate in colonies (I know hard to believe! but read the book).

Not less fascinating is the close relationship between the progressive movement and the rise of the field of economics. The economics associations, academic departments and use in government exploded from practically nothing to an accepted and vital field during the progressive era. In particular, I found it fascinating how tightly close early economists and eugenics were bound. In particular, it was interesting that early american economists were trained in germany and developed ideas of the state as a social organism that could be guided by technocratic expert.

The book also has a fascinating chapter on women, which discussed the various progressive viewpoints towards women as both needing protection (for their own good, as well as healthy mothers) and a threat to the man's wages. Leonard makes the interesting point that much labor legislation that failed were upheld by the court for women (in part by the famous Brandeis brief of social sciences demonstrating the frailty of women as well as the need for their health for children, which Leonard notes is mostly clippings from various sources that happen to support the case) excluded or restricted the ability of women to work.

A fascinating book, that does not easily lend itself to easy summary. It's full of interesting connections and surprising history. At the very least, the book should be read to give people a humble view of our understanding of history. The book is one of the best pieces of evidence that history is complex, and even the history of the progressive movement, seen typically as on the "right" side of history, leaves behind an ambiguous and tense legacy.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
vhl219 | 1 altra recensione | Jun 1, 2019 |
Two books in one. Part 1 describes the construction of the 4th leg of government, the administrative bureaucracy at the beginning of the 20'st century, Part 2 explores history and development of the Progressive/Liberal philosophy resulting in loss of individual liberty and increased Gov't management of civil/economic life. Could have easily gone to one thousand pages and been as interesting. Excellent bibliography and notes.
 
Segnalato
4bonasa | 1 altra recensione | Apr 2, 2016 |

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Opere
5
Opere correlate
2
Utenti
148
Popolarità
#140,180
Voto
4.1
Recensioni
2
ISBN
11

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