Daniel Bell
THE NATIONAL STYLE
AND THE RADICAL RIGHT
The American has never yet had to
face the trials of Job.... Hitherto
America has been the land of universal
good
will,
confidence in life, inexperi–
ence of poisons. Until yesterday, it be–
lieved itself immune from the hered–
itary plagues of mankind.
It
could not
credit the danger of being suffocated
or infected by any sinister principle ...
George Santayana,
Character and Opinion
in the United States
Every country has a "national style," its distinctive way
of meeting the problems of order and adaptation, of conflict and
consensus, of individual ends and communal welfare, that confront
any society. The "national style" is a compound of the values and
the national character of a country. And, as anyone who has read
travelers' accounts knows, there has long been agreement on the
characteristics of the American style.
The American has been marked by a sense of achievement, of
activism, of being on the move, of an eagerness for experience. Europe
represented the past, with its hierarchies, its fixed statuses, its ties to
antiquity. America was always "future-oriented." The American
"makes" himself, and in so doing transforms himself, society, and
Copyright, 1962,
by
Daniel Bell
