Thick Moralities, Thin Politics: Social Integration Across Communities of Belief

by Benjamin Gregg

Overview

At the center of pluralistic societies like the United States is the question of how to make broadly consensual social policy in light of the different moral values held by a heterogeneous population varying in ethnicity, sexual identity, religion, and political belief. In Thick Moralities, Thin Politics Benjamin Gregg develops a new approach to dealing with conflicting values in the policymaking process. Arguing that public policy suffers when politics are laden with moral doctrines, Gregg contends that "thickly" moral public philosophies cannot be the basis of a successful political process. He offers a "thin" model of political decision-making which brackets moral questions (within the public sphere), deliberately working around them whenever possible—not toward political consensus, but rather the more realistic goal of mutual accommodation.

Thick Moralities, Thin Politics grapples with the work of theorists from both sides of the Atlantic, including Jürgen Habermas, Anthony Giddens, and Niklas Luhmann, as well as George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman, and Harold Garfinkel. Gregg develops a model of validity for arguments made in the public sphere, for understanding among competing worldviews, and for adjudicating disputes generated by normative differences. He applies his theory of politics to specific issues of contemporary social life, including those relating to the place of women, minorities, and multiculturalism in American and European society today. He also addresses the scientific study of religion, issues of legal interpretation, and the critique of ideology, in each case illuminating how different epistemic systems, as well as competing value systems, can achieve some understanding of one another. Gregg demonstrates, ultimately, that thin politics actually further, rather than reduce, citizens' engagement in the political process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822384526
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	04/18/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	813 KB

About the Author

Benjamin Gregg is Associate Professor of Government at the University of Texas, Austin.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

I. Thick Moralities, Thin Politics in Social Integration

1. Thick and Thin 17

2. Social Integration within Cosmopolitan Societies 40

3. Social Integration among Diverse Communities 67

4. Solidarities, Understandings, Identities 90

II. Thick Moralities, Thin Politics in Political Judgment

5. Political Judgment about Indeterminate Legal Norms
115

6. Political Judgment about Competing Cultural Values
137

7. Political Judgment as Ideology Critique
165

Coda 187

Notes 195

Selected Bibliography 223

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

"The dividing line between liberalism and communitarianism is steadily eroding, as is evident in a number of recent books dealing with 'liberal pluralism' and the like. Thick Moralities, Thin Politics resolutely carries forward this trend. Written from a pragmatist perspective enriched by critical theory, the text articulates the conception of a public sphere composed of several communities with 'thick moralities' and held together by a framework of 'thin' political rules allowing for diversity and contestation. An important contribution to the debate about democratic multiculturalism."--Fred R. Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame

"With superb insight, Benjamin Gregg melds theory and research in sociology and political science into an approach to communitarianism that in content advances the arguments of Amitai Etzioni and in form rivals the touch of Jeffrey Alexander. Gregg's concept of 'enlightened localism' merits close attention by researchers and theorists alike."--David Sciulli, author of Corporate Power in Civil Society

From the Publisher