Old moral panics about community loss breed reactionary nostalgia rather than constructive reform
Evidence
It must have been tempting in 1890 to say, “Life was much nicer back in the village. Everybody back to the farm.” They resisted that temptation to reverse the tide, choosing instead the harder but surer path of social innovation. Similarly, among those concerned about the social-capital deficit today, it would be tempting to say, “Life was much nicer back in the fifties. Would all women please report to the kitchen, and turn off the TV on the way?” Social dislocation can easily breed a reactionary form of nostalgia. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1445
Categorization
- CANDY: The ‘Would all women please report to the kitchen’ reversal is a quotable putdown of nostalgic reform.
- SEED: Angle: Why every generation’s answer to community decline is to make someone go back to the kitchen or the farm — the recurring shape of reactionary nostalgia.
- XREF: connects to: Nostalgia is an adjustment mechanism during crises — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 540; Attempted revivals of past traditions accelerate their decay — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1454; Nostalgia for imagined pasts provides community glue for detached suburbanites — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 906 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Left responses to crisis fail because they seek restoration instead of reconstruction
#corroborates(0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 903 - Nostalgia is an adjustment mechanism during crises
#expands(0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 540 - Nostalgia for imagined pasts provides community glue for detached suburbanites
#exemplifies(0.80) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 906 - Attempted revivals of past traditions accelerate their decay
#corroborates(0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1454