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Individualism and the Western Liberal Tradition: Evolutionary Origins, History, and Prospects for the Future
Individualism and the Western Liberal Tradition argues that ethnic influences are important for understanding the West. The prehistoric invasion of the Indo-Europeans had a transformative influence on Western Europe, inaugurating a prolonged period of what is labeled "aristocratic individualism" resulting form variants of Indo-European genetic and cultural influence. However, beginning in the seventeenth century and gradually becoming dominant was a new culture labeled "egalitarian individualism" which was influenced by preexisting egalitarian tendencies of northwest Europeans. Egalitarian individualism ushered in the modern world but may well carry the seeds of its own destruction.
542 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2019
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About the author
Kevin B. MacDonald
44 books216 followersKevin MacDonald is an American psychologist. He is a retired professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), best known for his controversial application of evolutionary psychology to characterize Jewish behavior as a "group evolutionary strategy." He is currently the editor of the Occidental Observer, which he says covers "white identity, white interests, and the culture of the West." He is the author of more than 100 scholarly papers and reviews, and he is the author of Social and Personality Development: An Evolutionary Synthesis (1988), A People That Shall Dwell Alone: Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy (1994), Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism (1998), and The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements (1998). He has also edited three books, Sociobiological Perspectives on Human Development (1988), Parent-Child Play: Descriptions and Implications (1994), and Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Development (2004).
In October 2004, MacDonald accepted the Jack London Literary Prize from The Occidental Quarterly, using the award ceremony as an occasion to argue for the need for a "white ethnostate" to maintain high white birthrates.
In 2010, MacDonald accepted a position as one of the eight members of the board of directors of the American Freedom Party, which declares America a white Christian nation and advocates for limiting "non-white" immigration into the United States.
In October 2004, MacDonald accepted the Jack London Literary Prize from The Occidental Quarterly, using the award ceremony as an occasion to argue for the need for a "white ethnostate" to maintain high white birthrates.
In 2010, MacDonald accepted a position as one of the eight members of the board of directors of the American Freedom Party, which declares America a white Christian nation and advocates for limiting "non-white" immigration into the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 8, 2019
The most anticipated book since 2002. Buy it. Sight unseen. MacDonald is always superb, and this will be the capstone of his magnum opus begun in 'The Culture of Critique' (see my review op cit).
November 23, 2019
This is essentially the counterpart to Culture of Critique. It deals with individualism as a cognitive trait of northwestern Europeans which explains the rise of liberalism and industrialism in those areas. He also discusses the future ramifications of the loss of European hegemony if non-whites continue to immigrate unabated. A thorough wake up call to white peoples everywhere.
November 15, 2021
A very pessimistic book.
July 30, 2021
The part about geneaology of Western individualism is very informative. The topic of aristocratic and egalitarian individualism should be studied more in-depth because their exact proportion in the westerners' character (from the author's perspective) looks unconvincing. Also, discussing the progressing Western individualism, MacDonald completely ignores the "social epistasis" model by Woodley of Menie which explains the fall of civilizations quite well (mutation accumulation in populations as a result of industrial revolution).
Overall, despite many repetitions and MacDonald's obsession with JQ, I really enjoyed the book.
Overall, despite many repetitions and MacDonald's obsession with JQ, I really enjoyed the book.
April 6, 2021
15/20
July 16, 2024
This book is great if you believe in the White Extinction Conspiracy Theory*. But to everyone else, this shaky social scientist and anti-semitic professor connects dots that aren't there.
As one example from the book, consider what "whiteness" is. Because it goes deeper than roots to Europe, although in the minds of conservatives, ones geneology gives unalienable right to being perceived normal and accepted in America. Whiteness refers to the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of are compared. Bank loaner sees the applicant is black? See: Redlining. Shop assistant at a high-end retailer sees a customer is black? See: Discrimination and stalking. You have to act "white", which goes far beyond just having manners, in order to be accepted and treated fairly in many parts of our society. It involves spending money how "white" people are supposed to spend it, it involves behaving like a "white" person in public and in private.
But MacDonald takes whiteness in this former sense, that it is this inalienable right given through phenotypes and the spirit of specifically northwestern Europeans. Which is literally what white supremacists in this country have originally identified as white and pure. Italians and Irish, for instance, were not included, even if they ranked higher than people of color. And that by extension, the cultural norms of liberty and individuality are inherent traits of white people.
Well someone should've told him WHY individualism, a core component of enlightenment thinking, was popular with Enlightenment thinkers who were almost all wealthy and aristocratic to begin with. They weren't interested in shaking the boat TOO much from the feudal and religious remnants of empires a la an egalitarian perspective like Marx. They saw the mercantile and barter systems of the economy as something to scale-up for imperial dominance, and invention driving the economy, which is little more than allowing someone with a good idea and perhaps the means to do it, huge control over other's fiscal and personal freedoms in a way Kings could only dream of.
Plus, individualism as a term didn't really come about until the 1800s...from the French (white people)...referring pejoratively to those who would rather put their own needs above what is good for society during the Revolution. It was also passed down from the Church of England to Puritans, who eventually came to America.
And fast forward to today, we see the growing wealth gap and inability to feed everyone and keep them financially independent (individual) with the outsourcing of jobs, tax evasion by the rich, and more. The "Rugged Individualism" does not work, at least not in a capitalist society owned by a few corporate lobbyists and the war machine. And then conservative politicians and centrist liberals have the gaul to blame it on multiculturism and multiracialism of America when we willingly took in slaves to build half our economy and now instruct illegal immigrants to do the same with jobs we refuse to do ourselves.
And then what is there to say about the rise of China, which certainly took the opposite route to individualism? Is Confucianism part of this "group evolution strategy"? You could argue their metropolises rival ours, even given our free-dumbs.
You can see how other conservatives wrote this off in the 00s, even if they were apologists of MacDonald: https://www.theamericanconservative.c...
*It purports that this goal is advanced through the promotion of miscegenation, interracial marriage, mass non-white immigration, racial integration, low fertility rates, abortion, pornography, LGBT identities, governmental land-confiscation from whites, organised violence, and eliminationism in majority white countries.
As one example from the book, consider what "whiteness" is. Because it goes deeper than roots to Europe, although in the minds of conservatives, ones geneology gives unalienable right to being perceived normal and accepted in America. Whiteness refers to the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of are compared. Bank loaner sees the applicant is black? See: Redlining. Shop assistant at a high-end retailer sees a customer is black? See: Discrimination and stalking. You have to act "white", which goes far beyond just having manners, in order to be accepted and treated fairly in many parts of our society. It involves spending money how "white" people are supposed to spend it, it involves behaving like a "white" person in public and in private.
But MacDonald takes whiteness in this former sense, that it is this inalienable right given through phenotypes and the spirit of specifically northwestern Europeans. Which is literally what white supremacists in this country have originally identified as white and pure. Italians and Irish, for instance, were not included, even if they ranked higher than people of color. And that by extension, the cultural norms of liberty and individuality are inherent traits of white people.
Well someone should've told him WHY individualism, a core component of enlightenment thinking, was popular with Enlightenment thinkers who were almost all wealthy and aristocratic to begin with. They weren't interested in shaking the boat TOO much from the feudal and religious remnants of empires a la an egalitarian perspective like Marx. They saw the mercantile and barter systems of the economy as something to scale-up for imperial dominance, and invention driving the economy, which is little more than allowing someone with a good idea and perhaps the means to do it, huge control over other's fiscal and personal freedoms in a way Kings could only dream of.
Plus, individualism as a term didn't really come about until the 1800s...from the French (white people)...referring pejoratively to those who would rather put their own needs above what is good for society during the Revolution. It was also passed down from the Church of England to Puritans, who eventually came to America.
And fast forward to today, we see the growing wealth gap and inability to feed everyone and keep them financially independent (individual) with the outsourcing of jobs, tax evasion by the rich, and more. The "Rugged Individualism" does not work, at least not in a capitalist society owned by a few corporate lobbyists and the war machine. And then conservative politicians and centrist liberals have the gaul to blame it on multiculturism and multiracialism of America when we willingly took in slaves to build half our economy and now instruct illegal immigrants to do the same with jobs we refuse to do ourselves.
And then what is there to say about the rise of China, which certainly took the opposite route to individualism? Is Confucianism part of this "group evolution strategy"? You could argue their metropolises rival ours, even given our free-dumbs.
You can see how other conservatives wrote this off in the 00s, even if they were apologists of MacDonald: https://www.theamericanconservative.c...
*It purports that this goal is advanced through the promotion of miscegenation, interracial marriage, mass non-white immigration, racial integration, low fertility rates, abortion, pornography, LGBT identities, governmental land-confiscation from whites, organised violence, and eliminationism in majority white countries.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews