The Wilding of America: Greed, Violence, and the New American Dream

by Charles Derber

In this fascinating, yet unnerving follow-up to The Wilding of America, Charles Derber chronicles recent violent and individualistic trends that seem to be eroding the moral landscape of American society. From the alarming amount of school shootings to corporate greed, Derber argues that our behavior is breeding an antisocial mentality and dangerous economic and social violence.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Charles Derber is Professor of Sociology at Boston College and has written 17 books - on politics, economy, capitalism, war, the culture wars, culture and conversation, and social change. He writes for and has been reviewed in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Truthout, and other leading media. His books are translated into Chinese, Korean, Tamil, German and Polish- and he is a bestseller in South Korea, done extended book tours in German bookstores and blues coffee houses, and has lectured in Italy in June for seven years. Derber is a public intellectual who believes that serious ideas should be written in an accessible and entertaining style.His most recent book is Sociopathic Society: A People's Sociology of the United States. He is also a life-long social justice activist and a terrific public speaker - so contact him and try to lure him to a public talk. Check out his Youtube presentations. He is married and has a beautiful Wheaten Terrier dog named Mojo, who lives up to his name.

Reviews

[Olivia's Bookish Places & Spaces · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had to describe this author in less than three words it would be: master manipulator.

I read this book as part of a policy course that I'm taking. While I understand why the professor had us read it, I've got quite a few problems with it. First, the author manipulates statistics to help his case. A lot. Several of the cases mentioned were factual but the evidence he gave was so greatly twisted. As many of these were prominent cases, a quick google search showed that he had done that. Second, he left out major points of events such as the stock market crash of 2008. My question is: did the author really think he'd get away with it? Omitting major facts from cases is just immoral, especially when your debating the morality of society. Could Derber face the facts instead of lying? He's an academic, not a politician. The irony here is that he points the finger at American society for covering up crimes, immoral behavior and exploiting the truth. Lastly, the writing itself is just dense. I know this is an academic text but a text can be academic without each sentences containing 50+ words.

[Jacob Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finishing this up for a sociology class in college and I never say this about any required text of any class but this was such a pleasantly surprising read. Ive always had an intrigue in sociology and the term of wilding was such an interesting thing to come upon. Derber does an excellent job of not only defining wilding but different types of wilding, giving the term more depth than just a simple "kill this because selfish reason". It's difficult to define a term let alone a term that is so useable in today's society. As if making note of murder cases in society isn't enough to satisfy those hungering to know about wilding, Derber also brings in shows such as Survivor and video games like GTA into the mix, showing the flip side of how wilding is being promoted today. As much as I love this book I will say this much, at times it seems more examples than explanations and I do understand that for these types of books the author wants the reader to piece things together, I would love to see more about what the author has to say about things a lot too, only fair the man with the term should get some say too. All in all such a great read and I will definitely purchase this on my own time just to read it again

[Shelly Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned reading from CSU Fresno, Sociology Department, read it.

[Jack Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the second edition, which is now fifteen years old but still-- surprise!-- highly relevant to our world today. Despite a few glaring typographical errors (now-Senator Sherrod Brown was a CongressMAN, not a CongressWOMAN) and Derber's preference for anecdotal evidence (his stories are shocking, but it wouldn't be hard to find shocking murders throughout American history, even during periods of relatively little "wilding"), "The Wilding of America" seems accurate in both its analysis of individualism run amok and its ideas for a more civil, cooperative future (none of which involve apps, or social media, or any trendy clicky doohicky). It's a book full of terrifying statistics and scary conclusions that nevertheless feels balanced (unlike other Goodreaders, I didn't find the book partisan or unfair: Derber never puts the blame squarely on Republicans... he writes in the spirit of "we're all in this boat together, and we're all responsible for its failures/successes"). The second edition has particular value because it was written after the supposedly wonderful Clinton years and before the true disasters of Bush / the Iraq War/ the economic meltdown and housing/financial crisis. Even during that time of seeming prosperity, Derber sees a darkness: the mass firings of the 90's, growth of multinational corporations, rise in school massacres, tax cut fanaticism, and rapidly crumbling infrastructure all point to a society that has lost hold of its human community and trained its sights on individual gain at any cost.

Has anything changed for the better, since then? The economic crisis seemed to bring some people to their senses, but not the perpetrators: the fat cats are fatter than they've ever been, even as the movement for a higher minimum wage stalls out on a federal level and wealth inequality continues to worsen. Genocide and total societal breakdown occurs across the ocean and many Americans are still convinced we spend too much on "foreign aid." Our left wing has committed itself completely to the politics of identity, abandoning its old language of societal upheaval and the common good in favor of a divisive, hypersensitive vocabulary that means nothing to the poor and working class. Violent crime has decreased but persists, abetted by a gun lobby that cares more about profit than human lives, and taking the form of the impersonal, multiple-murder rampage. The Internet has "brought people together," but not for political change, and the illusion of an online community has diminished the traditional structures of a working public life-- parks, libraries, good schools, reliable public transit, etc-- as we gradually come to embrace a radically libertarian technoutopian shitworld. And one of our two major presidential candidates is the ultimate Wilder (mentioned even in this second edition): a sociopathic celebrity "winner" whose claim to fame is rapidly accumulating wealth (by building casinos!) and who mercilessly insults and threatens those who have no place in his hypercapitalist, mean-spirited America (see: women, gays and lesbians, disabled people, people of color, immigrants legal and illegal, etc).

I mean, fuck.

(Our other major presidential candidate-- who I am voting for without reservation-- is married to the Democrat who continued and intensified the political program of wilding initiated by his Republican predecessors. So we got a ways to go, here.)

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for Sociology 302.
Derber defines wilding as "self-oriented behavior that hurts others and damages the social fabric" and gives many examples of news headlines that were shocking when the book was written, but seem less so as I write this in 2015: things varying from road rage to Enron's accounting corruption.

He touched on the idea that corruption is bolstered by a sort of Red Queen Effect: the idea that "if I don't do this to get ahead, someone else will, and then I will be taken advantage of by them".

Derber's thesis is strong, but I didn't feel he gave realistic solutions to the problem. And much of the book was spent simply making his case over and over again that this is a real phenomenon.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Book would be better titled “Greed, Selfishness and Desire in America presented in newspaper Headline Snippets”. The endless one-sided representation of wilding became extremely annoying and redundant. Corporate wilding destroying communities and workers lives? How about the union wilding that has also helped fuel the fire?

This book could have been so much more, but settled instead on sensationalism as opposed to the human element that creates these institutions. We all know the world is filled with scumbags of every degree, this isn't new, it's always been part of human history. The idea that's it's worse now is folly; the difference now is we have media and information on demand. The underdogs in a system they can't penetrate love to be titillated by the demise of the fallen; this book offers more feed for the “victims” and little of deeper substance.

[Algernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A call to increased civic participation, from community organizations to social movements, against the phenomenon Derber defines as "wilding" - a morally uninhibited pursuit of selfish desire (such as money and power), an excess of individualism. He explores the topic in various areas of American life including economics, politics, religion, and popular culture. He also correctly distinguishes alienation, rather than apathy, as a cause for low participation in elections or societal institutions, resulting in diminished democracy as these fields of social activity are abandoned.

[Bruno Manning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has he addressed the fact that the Central-Park-Jogger rapists were all acquitted? I mean... they were his thesis statement, no?

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a class but I really enjoyed reading it. I ended up writing a 15 page paper on this book.

[Laurenbreithaupt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great message - I wish they could portray the same message without the political commentary.

[Kai C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for school, good book.