"I Gotta Be Me"

A review essay on Robert N. Bellah's, Richard Madsen's, Anne Swidler's, William M. Sullivan's, & Steven M. Tipton's Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkeley: U of California Press, 1985 [see listing in IRPS No. 31]). Bellah et al are commended for their critical analysis of the relationship between modern US individualism & the Biblical & Republican Party traditions. Particularly interesting is the adept analysis of the commitment of the language & philosophy of psychotherapy to the self as a dominant reality & value. The book is criticized, however, for its lack of exploration of the interview data from the 200 Rs studied. It fails to provide the reader with the rich experience possible for humanistic social science as a literary genre. R. Wright