ALIENATIONMiller argues that this fragmentation does indeed
constitute a crisis of legitimacy for American politics.
For some social theorists, widespread political
alienation is a sign of even deeper political contra-
dictions. Throughout American history, as citizens
have fought to extend their democratic freedoms
and personal rights, businesses have used the no-
tion of property rights to protect their own inter-
ests and stifle reform (Bowles and Gintis 1987).
Wolfe (1977) sees political alienation as a symp-
tom of how the democratic aspirations of the
citizenry have been frustrated by the state, which
has attempted to foster the growth of capitalism
while at the same time maintaining popular support.
OVERCOMING ALIENATIONOne diagnosis for overcoming alienation has been
proposed by Sandel, Etzioni (1996), and others
from the communitarian perspective, which pro-
motes the values of civic commitment. Sandel
(1996) argues that citizens today feel powerless
over their fate and disconnected from politics
because of an excessively individualist culture in
the United States. America’s leaders must encour-
age devotion to the common good, attachments to
communities, volunteerism, and moral judgments
and dialogues. Political alienation can be over-
come through the associations and networks of
civil society.
Others also trace political alienation back to
its roots in society, but focus on work and econom-
ic hardships, which Marx long ago characterized as
alienating and that now prevent the emergence
of the caring and democratic public life envi-
sioned by the communitarians (Bennett 1998).
According to Lerner (1991), people experience a
deep and debilitating sense of inefficacy (what he
terms ‘‘surplus powerlessness’’) in their personal
and family lives. Surplus powerlessness can be
overcome through such measures as communities
of compassion, occupational stress groups, and
family support groups, which will build the at-
tachments and religious values sought by the
communitarians, while at the same time compas-
sionate unions will seek to change power relations
at work and in the society at large.
Alienation, originally a Marxist concept de-
picting the economic deprivations of industrial
workers, is now a political concept portraying the
plight of citizens increasingly subjected to the
authority and the bureaucracy of the state in ad-
vanced capitalist societies. Perhaps returning to
the original theorizing about alienation in the
economic sphere can deepen our analysis of con-
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