Caritas and Community: Reflections on the Conservative Sociological Art of Robert Nisbet
– "Caritas and Community: Reflections on the Conservative Sociological Art of Robert Nisbet." Society 52, vo. 4. 2015: (316-23). doi:10.1007/s12115-015-9907-1Abstract: Nisbet’s conception of sociology practiced as an art form: multivocality, tolerance for uncertainty, wealth of invention, reservation of judgement. Tocqueville as exemplar. Nisbet’s own writings evaluated in the light of his best insights. A… More
Robert Nisbet’s Visible and Invisible Communities
– Harold,Philip. "Robert Nisbet's Visible and Invisible Communities." The Catholic Social Science Review 15, (2010): 175-191.Abstract: Communitarian Robert Nisbet’s most famous book, The Quest for Community, falls short of what it intends to prove. Nisbet misinterprets Tocqueville on the nature of individualism and fails to comprehend the nature of the modern state. Most… More
Remembering Alienation
– Wolfe, Alan. "Remembering Alienation." New Republic. 2010.Abstract: The uneasiness, the malaise of our time, is due to this root fact: in our politics and economy, in family life and religion—in practically every sphere of our existence—the certainties of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have… More
Robert Nisbet and the Blight in the Olive Grove
– Henry, Regnery, and edited by Nelson, Jeffery O. “Robert Nisbet and the Blight in the Olive Grove.” Perfect Sowing: Reflections of a Bookman, (1991): 156-62.Abstract: [In the following excerpt, Regnery emphasizes Nisbet’s criticisms of Enlightenment ideas and their tendency to overestimate the individual’s capacity for reason and virtue.] The university, in Professor Robert Nisbet’s view of the… More
A True Sociologist
– Stone, Brad Lowell. “A True Sociologist.” The Intercollegiate Review 33, no. 2, (1998): 38-42.Abstract: [In the following essay, Stone briefly reviews Nisbet’s life and work, emphasizing Nisbet’s criticisms of centralized power and the romantic individualism of Jean Jacques Rousseau.] Henri Bergson once observed that a true great thinker… More
Robert Nisbet and the Modern State
– Perrin, Robert G. “Robert Nisbet and the Modern State.” Modern Age 39, no. 1, (1997): 39-47.Abstract: [In the following essay, Perrin reviews Nisbet’s life’s work, focusing on Nisbet’s developing theories concerning the cause of growth of the centralized territorial state and how that state has affected more local, social… More
Losing Giants
– Horowitz, Irving Louis. “Losing Giants.” Society 34, no. 3, (1997): 56-63.Abstract: [In the following essay, Horowitz laments the deaths of Nisbet, E. Digby Baltzell, and Anselm L. Strauss, highlighting their common dislike of the entrenched elites of the late twentieth century.] Recently Society published notices of the passing of… More
A Humane Sociologist: Remembering Robert Nisbet
– Kirk, Russell. “A Humane Sociologist: Remembering Robert Nisbet.” University Bookman, 1996: (29-39).Abstract: [In the following essay, Kirk praises Nisbet’s Quest for Community for showing the individual’s natural desire to form strong social attachments and the ways in which this drive persists in an era of centralized political and economic… More
Robert Nisbet vs. the Nanny State
– “Robert Nisbet vs. the Nanny State.” American Enterprise 7, no. 6, (1996): 17-18.Abstract: [In the following essay, the editors of the American Enterprise argue that Nisbet’s focus on the need for strong social institutions has become a dominant theme in American conservatism.] Just as “big government” has become anathema and… More
Robert Nisbet’s Quest
– Brooks, David. “Robert Nisbet’s Quest.” Weekly Standard 2, no. 3, (1996): 14-15.Abstract: [In the following essay, Brooks praises Nisbet’s analysis of the sources of increased political centralization and the inevitable effects of this centralization on social institutions.] Robert Nisbet was ailing when Hillary Clinton uttered the… More
Robert Nisbet: Resisting Leviathan
– Hoeveler, J. David, Jr. “Robert Nisbet: Resisting Leviathan.” Watch on the Right: Conservative Intellectuals in the Reagan Era, University of Wisconsin Press, (1991): 177-205.Abstract: [In the following excerpt, Hoeveler argues that Nisbet combined belief in the power of social science with an attachment to traditional social institutions, which allowed him to formulate a powerful critique of centralized political and economic… More
Paradigm Lost
– Lemann, Nicholas. “Paradigm Lost.” Washington Monthly 23, no. 4, (1991): 46-50.Abstract: [In the following essay, Lemann assesses the continuing influence of Nisbet’s Quest for Community, arguing that Nisbet powerfully captured Americans’ nostalgia for small-town life, but that this nostalgia interferes with state actions… More
Robert Nisbet’s America
– Eberstadt, Mary Tedeschi. “Robert Nisbet’s America.” Commentary 86, no. 2, (1988): 55-59.Abstract: [In the following essay, Eberstadt considers Nisbet’s increasing alarm at the increase of centralized political power in the United States and its effects on primary social institutions.] When a conservative thinker of Robert Nisbet’s… More
A Dream Denied
– Gottfried, Paul. “A Dream Denied.” Policy Review, no. 38, (1986): 88-89.Abstract: [In the following review of Conservatism, Gottfried argues that Nisbet’s rejection of both egalitarianism and religious enthusiasm renders his conservatism interesting but largely irrelevant to contemporary political debates.] Conservatism:… More
A Friend of the Family
– Goodman, Walter. “A Friend of the Family.” Newsweek, (1982): 78.Abstract: [In the following essay, Goodman reviews Nisbet’s changes in political ideology, noting the consistency of Nisbet’s defense of the family and other social institutions.] Robert Nisbet is by all odds the jolliest Jeremiah now practicing.… More
The Politics of Progress
– Beauchamp, Gorman. “The Politics of Progress.” Michigan Quarterly Review XXL, no 4, (1982): 658-73.Abstract: [In the following review of History of the Idea of Progress, Beauchamp dismisses Nisbet as a dishonest scholar and apologist for American business interests.] One Sunday evening in the course of his hapless presidency, Jimmy Carter took to our… More
Progress or Providence
– Andelson, Robert V. “Progress or Providence.” Modern Age 25, no. 1, (1981): 80-83.Abstract: [In the following review of History of the Idea of Progress, Andelson criticizes Nisbet for including too many divergent ideas under the title “progress,” thereby failing to give a coherent criticism of any particular idea of importance in… More
A Review of the History of the Idea of Progress
– Solomon, Robert C. “A Review of the History of the Idea of Progress.” Chicago Review 32, no. 2 (1980): 120-23.Abstract: [In the following review of History of the Idea of Progress, Solomon praises Nisbet for undermining a unitary theory of progress that has no tolerance for cultural differences.] In Aristotle’s Greece, to be Greek (and preferably male, an… More
A Review of Sociology as an Art Form
– Burch, William R, Jr. “A Review of Sociology as an Art Form.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 12, no. 4 (1979): 274-77.Abstract: [In the following review of Sociology as an Art Form, Burch finds value in Nisbet’s insights and analogies, which give a new perspective to old issues.] Sociology is an art form. Indeed, in combination with television, pop sociology may be the… More
Robert Nisbet and the Idea of Community
– Hill, Fred Donovan. "Robert Nisbet and the Idea of Community." University Brookman 18, no. 3. (1978).Abstract: Unlike Max Weber or Emile Durkheim, Robert A. Nisbet has not produced a remarkably original theory that has shaken the sociological world or revolutionized its concepts and methods of analysis. What Nisbet has done over the period of a long career… More
Marx Upended
– Gellner, Ernest. “Marx Upended.” Partisan Review XLIV, no. 1, (1977): 139-43.Abstract: [In the following review of Twilight of Authority, Gellner criticizes Nisbet for overemphasizing the role ideas play in fostering social trends.] The author of this likeable but slightly crotchety book [Twilight of Authority] is a distinguished… More
The Deepening Darkness
– Gow, Haven Bradford. “The Deepening Darkness.” Modern Age 21, no. 2, (1977): 211-12.Abstract: [In the following eview of Twilight of Authority, Gow outlines Nisbet’s argument that centralized government is sapping vitality from social institutions such as the family, which are crucial to protecting liberty and forming full social… More
Social Science: The Public Disenchantment
– “Social Science: The Public Disenchantment.” American Scholar, (1976).Abstract: [In the following symposium, written by James S. Coleman, Morris Janowitz, Harry G. Johnson, Robert Lekachman, Martin Mayer, Daniel P. Moynihan, Harold Orlans, Thomas Sowell, and James Q. Wilson, the writers debate the merits of Nisbet’s… More
Finding a Usable Past, Building a Livable Future
– Kelly, James R. “Finding a Usable Past, Building a Livable Future.” America 133, no. 13, (1975): 286-87.Abstract: [In the following review of Twilight of Authority, Kelly criticizes Nisbet’s book as a simple-minded attack on the pursuit of equality through political means.] “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.” Certainly, this is a sentiment no… More
The Political Animal
– Gow, Haven Bradford. “The Political Animal.” Modern Age 18, no. 4 (1974): 424-26.Abstract: [In the following essay, Gow compares Nisbet’s Social Philosophers with Wilson Carey McWilliams’ The Idea of Fraternity.] What is community? What impells men to enter into society? Is society natural or artificial? Such questions have… More
An interview in Psychology Today
– "An interview in Psychology Today." Interview by Robert W. Glasgow. Psychology Today, December 1973, 57-64.Abstract: [In the following interview, Glasgow asks Nisbet his views on the growth of centralized bureaucratic and military power and the role each has played in fostering individual alienation.] My first meeting with Robert Nisbet was one morning last July… More
To Reform the Academy
– Ohmann, Richard. “To Reform the Academy.” Saturday Review 54, (1971): 54-55.Abstract: [In the following essay, Ohmann faults Degradation of the Academic Dogma for blaming the politicization of American universities on post-World War II political developments rather than late-nineteenth-century educational reforms.] How should… More
The Anatomy of History
– Wrong, Dennis. “The Anatomy of History.” Commentary 48, no. 5 (1969): 85-9.Abstract: [In the following review of Social Change and History, Wrong favorably compares the work to Nisbet’s earlier The Sociological Tradition sinceSocial Change and History foregoes broad characterizations of individual thinkers in favor of close… More
A review of Social Change and History
– Mazlish, Bruce. “A review of Social Change and History.” Commonweal XL, no. 20 (1969): 546-47.Abstract: [In the following review of Social Change and History, Mazlish praises Nisbet for revealing the notion that universal laws of economic and political development is culturally biased.] Our age, among other things, is an age of “undeveloped”… More
A review of the Quest for Community: a Study in the Ethics of Order and Freedom
– Kurtz, Paul W. "A review of the Quest for Community: a Study in the Ethics of Order and Freedom." The Journal of Philosophy50, no. 25 (1953): 788-92. doi:10.2307/2021650.Abstract: [In the following review of Quest for Community, Kurtz argues that Nisbet’s work is part of a useful trend in social science toward examining people as part of social units or communities rather than as isolated individuals.] Even a… More
A review of the Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Freedom and Order
– Davis, Arthur K. "A review of the Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Freedom and Order." American Sociological Review 18, no. 4 (1953): 443-44. doi:10.2307/2087566.Abstract: [In the following review of Quest for Community, Davis argues that Nisbet should build on his understanding of the conflict between local associations and large, centralized organizations like the state by examining the need for political action to… More