Tuesday 02/25 Notes

Aspirational Thoughts on Divided Culture

This Course Has…

-​ ​Examined two different visions with American politics

o​ ​Progressives aspire to a system that is more egalitarian;

accommodates a wide variety of identities

o​ ​Conservative aspire to a restoration of traditional values, both moral

and political

-​ ​Examined how political differences manifest in cultural affairs

o​ W
​ ho and what gets visibility in culture, accepted as “legitimate”

o​ H
​ ow visual art reflects division within the culture

o​ H
​ ow visual art projects changes/challenges to accepted values

Today, situating those ideas in elsewhere in America

-​ ​The place of morals in the divided culture

o​ P
​ rogressives and conservatives contest morals

§​ “​ The Moral Majority” -> asserts authority from religion

o​ ​Lippman argues (on1929!) that religion less important than it was (“Lost
Province”)

-​ ​The place of aspiration in a divided culture

o​ P
​ rogressives and conservatives contest the limits of aspiration

§​ ​Most identity groups seek greater equality than they currently

have

o​ ​Trend argues the United States an “unfinished project”? (The One and
the Many,” 299)

Aspirational Ideals in US Cultural History

-​ ​Sir Thomas More, Utopia (1516)

o​ M
​ ore first author to make up a fictional world

o​ U
​ topia = idyllic, perfect world (contrasted with corrupt society)

§​ “​ The search for a better place…” Trend 289

§​ R
​ eflects aspirational tone of renaissance culture

-​ ​Winthrop: “city on a hill” (1630)

o​ E
​ xhortation to colonist for New World to be better than the Old

o​ O
​ ften quoted by politicians

-​ ​Founding documents

o​ D
​ eclaration of Independence (1776): life, liberty, pursuit of happiness

o​ ​Preamble to the Constitution (1789): in order to form a more perfect

union

o​ ​Both reflect 17​th​ C Lockean philosophies emphasizing freedom and

equality

-​ ​The Statue of Liberty (1886)

o​ ​“give me your tired, your poor” Emma Lazarus “The New Colossus”
(1883)

o​ S
​ ymbol of hope on sight

-​ ​The American Dream

o​ O
​ pportunity exists for everyone (work hard)

o​ ​“this country’s persistent faith in forward momentum and upward

mobility” Trend, 288

§​ “​ But history sometimes moves sideways or backward”

-​ ​The Movement

o​ ​Articulates shortcomings of American Dream; expresses desire for

improvement
 o​ B
​ lacklash: views those changes as abandonment of traditional values

Walter Lippman. From A Preface to Morals

-​ ​Who was Walter Lippman?

-​ ​What was A Preface to Morals (1929)?

o​ P
​ ublication, legacy

o​ M
​ ain Ideas

-​ ​“Lost Provinces” of religious authority

o​ B
​ usiness

o​ F
​ amily

o​ T
​ he Arts

Art As a Lost Province

-​ ​In western tradition, religious themes infused art almost exclusively

o​ S
​ ee p.98: the church dictates subject matter of art

-​ ​Humanistic value begin to creep in during the Renaissance

-​ ​Lippman: Modern art lacks “any theory of destiny” , fials to express “human
mood in the presence of destiny.” (103)

o​ ​Lippman questions whether in modern art,” art has.. only to do with art”
104

o​ ​But the concludes the creation of art “implicates a philosophy of life…”

107

o​ “​ every vision of the world implies some sort of philosophy” 110

David Trend “The one and the many”

-​ ​Links utopia strain of thought to

o​ E
​ mergence of a commonly recurring theme in science-fiction
 o​ ​The underpinnings of 19​th​ century socialism (especially as regards
private property)

o​ ​The gap between capitalism’s promise (hard work = success) and its
reality (divide into winners and losers)

-​ ​Popular culture contains both utopian and dystopian entertainments

-​ ​Social identities create both inclusion (belonging) and exclusion

o​ “​ equality rarely happens without effort (or a fight) Trend 292

o​ ​Trend speculates about “foreigness” as an instinctual human response,

292

-​ ​Agency

o​ ​“manifests from particular forms of knowledge about the world and its
working” 298

o​ ​Rhetorical question: “what does one ‘care’ about enough to take action”
298

§​ P
​ erhaps the answer may not be linked to morals

o​ H
​ ow to heal divided culture?

§​ D
​ evise “new forms of belonging” 299

§​ “​ exceed the limits of existing belonging”