| Description |
xi, 196 p. ; 21 cm. |
| Note |
"In American Vulgar, Grudin examines postwar developments in American social consciousness, as we have veered from the nineteenth-century ideal of the commonwealth to the contemporary fixation on the individual -- what others have described as the 'culture of narcissism.' Grudin identifies how easily misled individuals can be by a class of professional manipulators -- politicians, marketers, advertisers, and the like. He demonstrates the calculated effort to diminish and demean broad national awareness, a project of vulgarization. Illustrating its effects in several areas of common daily life, he shows how this dumbing-down of the electorate has bred an epidemic and self-destructive ignorance."--Amazon.com. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-188) and index. |
| Contents |
Preface: A war and a killing -- The domains of vulgarity -- Waste and wisdom -- Polite vulgarity : American complacency and its suppliers -- Vulgarity, Inc.; vulgarity.com -- Vulgarity and nature -- A footnote on vulgarity and crime -- Introduction: Consciousness as liberation -- Homer and the birth of consciousness -- The education of the vulgar -- Vulgarity and consciousness in the novel -- The nature of social consciousness -- The conscious life -- Conclusion: The heart of the labyrinth -- Postscript. |
| Subject |
Vulgarity -- Social aspects -- United States.
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Mass media -- Social aspects -- United States.
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Popular culture -- United States.
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Political culture -- United States.
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Ignorance (Theory of knowledge) -- Social aspects.
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Consciousness -- Social aspects.
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Awareness -- Social aspects.
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Social psychology -- United States.
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| ISBN |
1593761023 |
|
9781593761028 |
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