Review Of Robert N. Bellah's Habits Of The Heart

Self-actualization or Societal Success Robert N. Bellah’s book Habits of the Heart tells a story about the societies in which we live and how we interact in such societies. This book analyzes the question that Alexis de Tocqueville raised 150 years ago. He wondered if Americans would be able to maintain their freedoms set out for them or if they would gradually allow their ideas of freedom to transfer over into democratic despotism. Tocqueville and many others feared for our nation because all of its expectations and standards would result directly form its people. Bellah generally describes individuals and these expectancies of how our society should operate. It describes these anticipations through the personal narratives of four individuals. All four of these characters have unique perspectives on how to maximize personal happiness. They each believe that they must live their lives a certain way in order feel satisfaction and confidence. Each individual talks about a different form of Moral Language that directly pertains to the individual’s way of life. Bellah’s Joe Gorman is a firm

Character Margaret Oldham and Walt Whitman are both supporters of Expressive Individualism and feel that it is a necessary way of life. Both figures believe that if something feels good than it is good and that it should be done. Bellah explains Margaret Oldham’s view points, she believes that the definitive goal in life is to be self sufficient. “Margaret places individual fulfillment higher than attachment to family and community,” (Bellah 13). Miss. Oldham voices her opinion in the quote above, she declares that the most important thing is to achieve self actualization. She also explains that it is not a bad thing to be self centered, and that one should be most concerned with improving the