Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Lubavitchers as Citizens : A Paradox of Liberal Democracy / Jan Feldman.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]Copyright date: ©2003Description: 1 online resource (240 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781501721496
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 323/.042/088296 22
LOC classification:
  • BM198.54 .F45 2003eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- NOTE ON SPELLING AND TRANSLITERATION -- CHAPTER ONE. Does Democracy Need Liberals? -- CHAPTER TWO. Chassidim: History, Customs, Beliefs, and Organization -- CHAPTER THREE. Lubavitch and American Politics -- CHAPTER FOUR. Lubavitch and Canadian Politics -- CHAPTER FIVE. Liberalism: Reason, Autonomy, and Sources of Self -- CHAPTER SIX. Lubavitch Reason: Intellect, Faith, and Obligation -- CHAPTER SEVEN. Lubavitcher Women and Liberalism -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Subgroups and Citizenship -- CHAPTER NINE. Normative Citizenship -- CHAPTER TEN. Conclusion -- NOTES -- INDEX
Summary: Lubavitchers are active in the civic life of their communities and so should be considered good citizens by advocates of participatory democracy. However, their obviously nonliberal worldview tends to elicit rancor in precisely those quarters. The notion that democratic political institutions require the support of a democratic political culture is pervasive in political theory. Many scholars treat democratic virtues and liberal values as synonymous. As a result, nonliberal groups are viewed with suspicion: if they reject liberal values, they are also seen as rejecting democratic ones. Jan Feldman focuses on a subset of Chassidic Judaism known as Lubavitch, or ChaBad, to explore this assumption.Lubavitchers make an excellent test case, she explains, because they are informed, politically active, and democratic on the one hand, yet embrace nonliberal values on the other. Unlike the Amish or Hutterites, they do not rely on rural isolation for group survival but function remarkably well in secular, urban settings. They embrace rather than withdraw from political life. Although they do not use the state to promote their worldview to a wider audience, their entry into the public realm often generates hostility and fear.Feldman does not claim that liberal values are irrelevant to democracy nor does she argue that all nonliberal groups are equally benign. "What Lubavitchers allow us to investigate," she writes, "is the common assumption that liberal and democratic attitudes are inextricably linked." Through numerous interviews in the centers of Lubavitch life in Montreal, New York, and Washington, D.C., she not only illuminates a group fascinating in its own right but also provides insights into long-held assumptions about the relationship between liberal and democratic values.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781501721496

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- NOTE ON SPELLING AND TRANSLITERATION -- CHAPTER ONE. Does Democracy Need Liberals? -- CHAPTER TWO. Chassidim: History, Customs, Beliefs, and Organization -- CHAPTER THREE. Lubavitch and American Politics -- CHAPTER FOUR. Lubavitch and Canadian Politics -- CHAPTER FIVE. Liberalism: Reason, Autonomy, and Sources of Self -- CHAPTER SIX. Lubavitch Reason: Intellect, Faith, and Obligation -- CHAPTER SEVEN. Lubavitcher Women and Liberalism -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Subgroups and Citizenship -- CHAPTER NINE. Normative Citizenship -- CHAPTER TEN. Conclusion -- NOTES -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Lubavitchers are active in the civic life of their communities and so should be considered good citizens by advocates of participatory democracy. However, their obviously nonliberal worldview tends to elicit rancor in precisely those quarters. The notion that democratic political institutions require the support of a democratic political culture is pervasive in political theory. Many scholars treat democratic virtues and liberal values as synonymous. As a result, nonliberal groups are viewed with suspicion: if they reject liberal values, they are also seen as rejecting democratic ones. Jan Feldman focuses on a subset of Chassidic Judaism known as Lubavitch, or ChaBad, to explore this assumption.Lubavitchers make an excellent test case, she explains, because they are informed, politically active, and democratic on the one hand, yet embrace nonliberal values on the other. Unlike the Amish or Hutterites, they do not rely on rural isolation for group survival but function remarkably well in secular, urban settings. They embrace rather than withdraw from political life. Although they do not use the state to promote their worldview to a wider audience, their entry into the public realm often generates hostility and fear.Feldman does not claim that liberal values are irrelevant to democracy nor does she argue that all nonliberal groups are equally benign. "What Lubavitchers allow us to investigate," she writes, "is the common assumption that liberal and democratic attitudes are inextricably linked." Through numerous interviews in the centers of Lubavitch life in Montreal, New York, and Washington, D.C., she not only illuminates a group fascinating in its own right but also provides insights into long-held assumptions about the relationship between liberal and democratic values.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Apr 2024)