Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter

Review by: Mark R. Kowalewski

Sociological Analysis, Vol. 53, No. 3, Monopolism and Pluralism in American Religion and
Society (Autumn, 1992), pp. 337-338
Published by: Oxford University Press
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 BOOK REVIEWS 337

Culture toDefine
Wars:TheStruggle America, tion, popularmedia,law, and electoral
byJAMSDAVISON HUNTER. NewYork: politics.In a chapterdevotedto each, he
BasicBooks,1991,xiii + 416 pp. $25. demonstrateshis thesis by providing
examplesof individuals and organizations
whohavebattledeachotherovercontrol
A culture warragesinAmerica.Ortho- oftheseinstitutions. It is rathersurprising
doxandprogressive forcesbattleeachother inthisregard thatHunterhasnotincluded
over America'ssocial institutions. James Americanreligionas a pivotalfieldof
DavisonHunterargues thatthisstruggle will conflict.
have reverberations in bothpublicpolicy Huntergoesbeyondhisdescription of
and theeveryday livesofcitizens foryears theculture wartodiscuss a largernormative
tocome.Fights overabortion, schoolprayer, issueraisedbycommunitarian philosophers
and gayrights areonlya fewissuesat stake and evensociologists suchas Bellahet al.
in thebroaderconflict. Can a liberaldemocracyremainstrong
The rootsof the hostility lie in two withouta commonphilosophyof "the
opposingsystems ofmoralunderstanding. Good" to undergird it?Powerplaysand
Fororthodoxy, Hunterstates,moraltruth assertionsofdominance arenotthebestway
is unchanging, universal anddivinely sanc- toforge publicideasofthegood,he argues.
tioned;forprogressivism, itis evolving and Rationalanswersto theproblemofpublic
contextual. Religiousfaithfuelsthedebate, philosophy exist.Reasonable peoplecanlay
buttraditional denominational differences downtheweaponsofculturalwarfare and
have given way to ecumenical,special findwaysofcreating a commondiscourse
agendaorganizations whofight eachother concerning whatis good forsociety.He
acrossthe ideologicaldivide.Distinctions proposessomemodest,yetsimplistic steps
between Protestants,CatholicsandJewsno towardthisgoal.
longerexplaindifferences in attitudes and The approachtaken to thesephilo-
values.In thisregard,Hunter's thesisreflects sophicalquestions presents a confusing pic-
Robert Wuthnow'sThe Restructuring of tureofHunter's theoretical orientation. He
American Religion.WhileWuthnowdeals frameshis argumentwith referenceto
withthe liberaland conservative splitin Gramsci'stheorythatin periodsof social
Americanreligion,Hunterdemonstrates transformation cleavageoccursamongin-
how thesedifferences have infusedother tellectuals
andothersocialelites.In theend,
majorinstitutions ofAmericanlife. theold hegemony reasserts or a new
itself
The two poles of orthodoxand pro- hegemony takesitsplace.The triumph of
gressiveshouldbe understood as idealtypes. anyhegemonic discourse occursthrough a
The vastmajority ofAmericans fallsome- forpower.YetHunter's
struggle concern for
whereinthemiddleandoftendo notvoice the healthof a societythat determines
theiropinions. The nuanced, middling posi- legitimate discourse through conflict
seems
tionsgetlostintheextremes ofculture war contradictory. Is theauthorespousing con-
rhetoric.Polarizationof these positions flicttheoryas thebestwayto understand
emerges in partfrommassmediarepresen- contemporary American culture whilehop-
tationsof arguments presentedby vocal ing for a structural-functionalist future?
minorities on bothsidesofthebattleline. SinceGramsci holdsthatonediscourse will
Culturewarriors battlenot onlythrough eventually gainhegemony, perhapsthisis
voicingtheirviewsin thenewsmedia;but notsucha strange vision.Yet,thequestion
through sophisticateddirectmailcampaigns stillremains: Can wegaina commonvision
as well. The opposingvisionsbecomea without a culture war?WasGramsci correct
suigeneris,
reality takingon a lifeoftheir own ornot?Hunterdoesnotadvancethediscus-
apartfrom theindividuals whocreatethem. sionon thispoint.
Hunterarguesthatthe culturewar is A smaller criticismconcernstheuse of
foughtoverthecontrol ofthefamily, educa- theterm"orthodox" todescribe theconser-

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338 SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

vativepoleinthecurrent culturewar.While largelydevotedto describing and analyzing

Hunternoteshisdescriptiveuseoftheword, itsprotagonist's religious beliefsand prac-
a valueconnotation
it carries notso easily tices.Butitalsoincludescandidnarrations
shed,thatis,"right" or"correct"teaching. ofBrown'sownexperiences as an initiate,
Perhaps would
a termsuchas "traditionalist" elegant(thoughnecessarily somewhat ellip-
havebeenbetter. tic)explorations ofAlourdes's family history,
Despite these shortcomings, Hunter and unsentimental accountsof the quoti-
deliversa highlyreadableand convincing, dian realitiesof the worlds in which
qualitative ofthecurrent
interpretation con- Alourdes,herfamily, and friends live.
flict.The bookwillbe usefulforcoursesin As she was workingon this book,
the sociologyof religionand religionin Browntriedto paint"an intimate portrait
Americanot onlyforitsaccessibility, but of... deeplyreligious individuals withpar-
also for the clear connectionsit makes ticularhistories andrichinterior lives"(pp.
betweenreligious valuesandtheirconcrete 14-15).She stroveto producean analysis of
expressions in thebroaderculture. Vodouinwhichthatreligion waspresented
as "embeddedin" ratherthan somehow
floating above"thevicissitudes ofparticular
MarkR. Kowalewski lives"(p. 15).Judged byitsaims,thisbook-
XavierUniversityofLouisiana theproductoftwelveyearsofresearch and
writing - is unambiguously successful.
Nevertheless, some of the decisions
Brownmadeas shewasworking on herpro-
jectseemproblematic. First,theanalysesof
Vodou thatBrownadvancesinMamaLola
are on occasionoverwhelmed by ethno-
MamaLola:A VodouPriestess inBrooklyn,by graphic detail.Second,theanalyses thatare
KARENMCCARTHYBROWN.Berkeley: advancedsometimes seemsomewhatiso-
UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1991,x + latedfrom recent developments insocialand
405 pp. $24.95. cultural theory. Third, Brown mostly sticks
to exploring whatshe(following Geertz,of
course)calls "local knowledge," and she
This imaginatively researchedand studiously avoidsall metanarratives. Such
skillfullywrittenexplorationof Vodou an approach is currently fashionable in
focuseson the life of Marie Therese many disciplines, and it has been forcibly
AlourdesMacena MargauxKowalski- a advocatedby someofthemostinfluential
womanwho is also knownas Lola and scholarsof religion.But withouta meta-
MamaLola.She wasborninPort-au-Prince; narrative, scholarship isalwaysindangerof
in 1962,she emigrated to New YorkCity. degenerating intosomething a littleakinto
Vodouplayeda considerable roleinherlife neo-antiquarianism. This book doesnoten-
in Haiti and in the livesof manyof her tirely avoid that fate.
Haitianancestors.And thoughAlourdes I do notthink,however, thatanyfair-
believed,as shewaspreparing to emigrate, mindedcriticcouldarguethattheyearsof
thatshemight havelessintercoursewiththe research on whichMamaLolaisbasedwere
in NewYorkthanshehad in Haiti,
spirits not richly repaidnorcontendthatthebook
Vodou endedup playinga decisive rolein does not represent an important contribu-
herlifein theUnitedStatesas well.Bythe tionto thescholarly literature on religion
summer of1978,whenBrownfirst mether, in thecontemporary UnitedStates.
Alourdes'sworkas a religious healerhad Indeed, it could well be arguedthatin
won her an enviablereputationand a several important respects Mama Lola is
numberofloyal clients. superior to most of the standard accounts
As one would expect,Mama Lola is ofthattopic.Those accountsoftentellus

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