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Volunteers play an important part
in thousands of organizations across
North America and Western Europe,
including community tree-planting
projects in many neighborhoods.
terms of their consequences for
the wider community becomes
second nature; working out
conflicts between individual
career aspirations and goals and
commitments to the community;
redesigning the physical, lived
environment in order “to render
it more community-friendly”; and
seeking to reinvest more of our
personal and professional resources
back into the community.
Criticisms
Etzioni’s communitarianism is a
response to a range of real concerns
about the deterioration of private
and public morality and shared
values, the decline of the family,
high crime rates, and civic and
political apathy across US society.
His vision of a more democratic,
just, and egalitarian society is
commended by scholars and
commentators from a wide range
of ideological positions. However,
Etzioni’s work has also drawn
criticism. For example, some
supporters of feminism object
strongly to communitarianism
as an attempt to undo women’s
economic liberation. They argue
that a mother with a full-time job
now spends more quality time
with her children than the average
homemaker did 30 years ago.
Beatrix Campbell has accused the
communitarians of a “nostalgic
crusade,” pointing out that the kind
of mother they evoke did not exist.
US sociologist and political
theorist Richard Sennett claims
Etzioni’s work fails to address the
nature of political and economic
power other than in the vaguest
of terms, and does not provide a
convincing account of what might
motivate individuals to commit toMODERN LIVING
communitarian principles and
values. If, as Etzioni claims, US
culture is self-obsessed and overly
individualistic, then he fails to
provide an answer as to why
anyone would choose to take on
responsibility to a community
that would make demands of them
and potentially impinge upon their
individual rights.
In spite of criticisms, many of
the ideas at the heart of Etzioni’s
communitarianism have influenced
governments. In his book The Third
Way, British sociologist Anthony
Giddens sees Etzioni’s work as
central to the framework of the
political philosophy known as the
Third Way, developed by former
British prime minister Tony Blair.
Etzioni’s work appealed to the UK’s
New Labour government in two
distinct ways: first, it provided
middle ground between the
political Left, with its overemphasis
on the role to be played by the
State, and the political Right, with
its exaggerated support of the free
market and championing of the
individual; second, it presented the
notion of citizenship as something
that has to be earned through the
fulfillment of shared expectations
and obligations. ■Today there is increasing
interest among youngsters...
in finding careers... [in which]
you can combine ‘making it’
with something meaningful.
Amitai Etzioni