Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review[A] refreshingly clear and deeply provocative book...Contesting Conformity is a deeply engaging work of political theory that challenges us to reconsider our longstanding commitment to nonconformity, reminds us that not all good things go together, and invites us to reflect on what it means for democratic citizens to see themselves as equals. * Contemporary Political Theory *
Ikuta provides clear and concise analyses of sections from the relevant core texts of Tocqueville, Mill, and Nietzsche, bringing their thought into greater conformity with democratic political theory. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. * P. N. Malcolmson, St. Thomas University *
Contesting Conformity is a deeply engaging work of political theory that challenges us to reconsider our longstanding commitment to nonconformity, reminds us that not all good things go together, and invites us to reflect on what it means for democratic citizens to see themselves as equals. * Amy Gais, Washington UniversitySt. Louis, Contemporary Political Theory *
Everyone thinks they love non-conformity; who could be against it? Ikuta's marvelous Contesting Conformity develops skeptical perspective through careful, thoughtful studies of Mill, Tocqueville, and Nietzsche. Each worried about the democratic tendency to follow the herd, yet Ikuta shows that they offer no comfort to lazy contrarianism. She draws on them to help us see the value of shame, the need for social support of dissenters, and the problem for democratic equality when the arrogance of the powerful is dressed up as heroic individuality. * Jacob T. Levy, Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, McGill University *
American culture in general and democratic theory in particular love non-conformity. This book effectively complicates our assessment of the outsider in a democracy. While non-conformity can inject innovative experiments in living into a democracy, too much creativity can challenge the very basis and coherence of democratic life. Ikuta defends this argument through first-rate interpretations of Tocqueville, Mill, and Nietzsche. Highly recommended. * Jeffrey Church, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Houston *
A searching exploration of both the value and the dangers of non-conformity in democratic societies. In this smart and insightful book, Ikuta helps us think critically about our culture's headlong embrace of individual idiosyncrasy and self-reliance. She does this by offering fresh, perceptive readings of three nineteenth-century philosophers whose insights remain powerfully relevant in our time. * Alex Zakaras, Professor of Political Science, University of Vermont *
