favor the solidarity model and argue for the fairness of high taxes.6)No one is better placed to speak about the process of individualism than Robert Bellah. Even before the rise of the debate between liberals and communitarians, Bellah and his colleagues had pointed to the problem by asking whether a society whose members believe that they are responsible only to themselves can see any need for structural justice, public institutions or general welfare.7) America is not Europe,(Solidarity)8)"In Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah and four coauthors blasted the isolating effects of American individualism and called for a renewal of republican and religious traditions. 9)"Habits of the Heart holds up a mirror to American values, makes us examine ourselves, and dares us to question where our society is going. [It] will make you question your own habits and look into your own heart. Not many books possess that ability."10) This book is about the inevitable conflict between American Individualism and the fact that humans are by nature social. We hunger for relationship yet we want it only on our terms. Bellah and his team of reseachers take on the enormous task of interviewing people from all over the country and the results of these interviews are presented factually and then analyzed. Whether one agrees with the book's conclusions or not, the interviewees speak for themselves, and they speak for a majority of Americans today who are often torn by conflicting authoritative messages and motives from without and within. This book is a marvelous and sometimes unsettling mirror into contemporary American society.11) Which examined America's conflict between individualism and social commitment) with one that focuses on institutions. After acknowledging that we all live in and through both private and public institutions (families, schools, corporations, the nation, etc.), Bellah and his colleagues argue that we as an American citize...
