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Nineteenth-Century Individualism and the Market Economy

Individualist Themes in Emerson, Thoreau, and Sumner

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Luke Philip Plotica

    1. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA

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  • Looks at nineteenth-century individualism via historical and conceptual engagement with the market

  • Provides close studies of Emerson, Thoreau, and Sumner and each thinker's respective view of individualism

  • Combines conceptual analysis and textual exegesis of Emerson, Thoreau, and Sumner with two historical surveys of the rise of individualism and the rise of market economy

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. Introduction—A Nation of Individuals and Markets

    • Luke Philip Plotica
    Pages 1-22

  3. The Rise of the Market: Individuation and Integration in Antebellum America

    • Luke Philip Plotica
    Pages 23-69

  4. Emerson and Self-Reliance: Individualism Amidst the Market

    • Luke Philip Plotica
    Pages 71-124

  5. Thoreau and Deliberate Living: Individualism Against the Market

    • Luke Philip Plotica
    Pages 125-175

  6. The Maturation of the Market: Industrial Society in the Gilded Age

    • Luke Philip Plotica
    Pages 177-220

  7. Sumner and Natural Struggle: Individualism Through the Market

    • Luke Philip Plotica
    Pages 221-267

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 269-275
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Keywords

About this book

This book studies nineteenth-century American individualism and its relationship to the simultaneous rise of the market economy as articulated in the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and William Graham Sumner.  The argument of the book is that these thinkers offer distinct visions of individualism that reflect their respective understandings of the market, and provide thoughtful and insightful perspectives upon the promise and peril of this economic and social order. Looking back to Emerson, Thoreau, and Sumner furnishes valuable insights about the history of American political and social thought, as well as about the complexity of one of the most basic and prevalent relationships of modern life: that between the individual and the institutional complex of the market.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA

    Luke Philip Plotica

About the author

Luke Philip Plotica is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Virginia Tech, USA with training in political theory and public law. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Nineteenth-Century Individualism and the Market Economy

  • Book Subtitle: Individualist Themes in Emerson, Thoreau, and Sumner

  • Authors: Luke Philip Plotica

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62172-2

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-62171-5Published: 01 September 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-87247-6Published: 12 May 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-62172-2Published: 16 August 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 275

  • Topics: Political Theory, Political Philosophy, Economic History

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