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"A Biology of Dictatorships": Liberalism and Modern Realism in Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here

2010/09/01 by Andrew Corey Yerkes · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Themes in Literature Analysis #Liberalism #Individualism #Politics #Pluralism (philosophy) #Ideology #Law #Sociology #Philosophy #Political science #Epistemology

paper · doi:10.1353/sdn.2010.0019

openalex publication_date 2010/09/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01

Abstract

“America” is to New World liberalism as the doctrine of the divine right of kings is to medieval monarchy. Open competition, group pluralism, voluntarism, private enterprise, personal rights, community by contract and consent, equality under the law, mobility, free opportunity, individualism— all the tenets of modern liberal society find their apotheosis in the symbol of America. The process by which the United States usurped America for itself, symbolically, is also the process by which liberalism established its political and economic dominance.

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