The Creative American: Cold War Salons, Social Science, and the Cure for Modern Society

This essay examines how post–World War II Americans linked their understanding of domestic society and international affairs by using a common lens of psychological and characterological analysis for both. That lens was fashioned by social scientists and developed to study conformity and its opposit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Isis 2009-06, Vol.100 (2), p.219-262
Main Author: Cohen‐Cole, Jamie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authoritarianism
Cold War
Cold wars
Communism
Communities
Conformity
Creativity
Cultural history
General points
History of science and technology
History of science in relation to other disciplinary fields
Innovation
Liberalism
Modern society
Personality psychology
Philosophy
Philosophy of science
Political freedom
Politics
Science and technology
Social life & customs
Social psychology
Social reform
Social science research
Social sciences
Sociology
U.S.A
World War II
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Summary:This essay examines how post–World War II Americans linked their understanding of domestic society and international affairs by using a common lens of psychological and characterological analysis for both. That lens was fashioned by social scientists and developed to study conformity and its opposite, creative and autonomous selfhood. Creativity offered a means to achieve the liberal national society they desired. Social scientists managed their technical definitions of conformity and autonomy as a way of defining reasonable political sentiment. This essay details how, ultimately, the forms of self and sociality they advocated for America were grounded in the kinds of community and interpersonal interaction they valued in their own professional lives.
ISSN:0021-1753
1545-6994
DOI:10.1086/599554