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before the onset of industrialization. A civic sphere of "public ethics" came
into existence and elected officials were expected to abide by its high stan–
dards.
According to Weber, such strong civic ideals were rare in other
nations, and cannot be understood as evolutionary concom.itants of indus–
trialization. Moreover, their juxtaposi tion with a world mastery
individualism was, he believed, extremely unusual. Indeed, on the basis of
a common foundation in ascetic Protes tanti sm, civic val ues were reci pro–
cally intertwined with this activist individualism. As it became substantial
and broad in scope, the civic realm became empowered to direct individ–
ualism, pulling it away, as asceticism became weaker and failed to do so,
from an exclusive focus upon an egocentric striving for material prosper–
ity and toward the improvement of community standards. Civic ideals also
prevented this individualism from readily following a course of decline
into merely instumental, self-oriented calculations of interests and advan–
tage. On the other hand, activist individualism in the Colonial era and early
U.S., because it endowed persons with the strength and self-confidence to
act "in the world" and to defend-in moral terms if necessary-values,
principles, and "rights," even against great obstacles, repeatedly rejuvenat–
ed public ethics. Indeed, this "strong individualism" might be perceived as
a social-cultural necessi ty if a viable notion of the individual's right to
oppose authority and power is to be retained. In turn, due to the high
demands the civic sphere placed upon persons to reform communities on
behalf of ethical values, world-mastery individualism was perpetually
invigorated. A mutually sustaining dynamic crystallized.
Hence, from a comparative perspective, an unusual dualism character–
ized this political culture. Moreover, it broke asunder the iron cage
dichotomy in which a "public" realm, pervaded by technical, administra–
tive, and market constraints, devoid of civic ideals, and dominated by raw
power and calculations of interests unbounded by values, called forth its
polar opposite: an apolitical, deeply private refuge in which intimate rela–
tions of warmth and compassion were cultivated. In the Colonial era and
early U.S., civic ideals of honesty, fair play, social trust, good will, and
equality of treatment-an
ethos-penetrated
the public domain and
"uplifted" an activist individualism away from sheer interest-oriented pur–
suits, power-seeking machinations, egocentrism, and indulgence in the
unlimited "temptations" of daily life.
Of course, Weber knew that in the America of the last fin de siecle
unlimited opportunities for corruption existed, that public ethics fre–
quently were not upheld, and that power and crass calculation often
prevailed. Indeed, he was aware that ethical action in the public sphere was
the exception and that the corrupt politics of "city machines" were wide–
spread. Nonetheless, he perceived the legacies and presence of civic virtues
