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Reviews
| Cosmopolitanism and Solidarity: Studies in Ethnoracial, Religious, and Professional Affiliation in the United States. By David Hollinger. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. xxv + 213 pp. Photo, notes, and index. $29.95 (cloth).
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Cosmopolitanism and Solidarity consists of nine articles published between 2000 and 2005 in various journals and edited volumes. Hollinger first presented some as the Merle Curtis Lectures at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2000 and others were commissioned by various editors. Drawing upon his earlier books, Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism (New York, 1995) and Science, Jews, and Secular Culture: Studies in Mid-Twentieth Century Intellectual History (Princeton, NJ, 1996), this collection sets out to address "the global problem of solidarity" (p. ix) and to explore cosmopolitanism as a possible solution in the U.S. context. |
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The first two articles examine the relationships between ethnoracial mixture (i.e., amalgamation) and hypodescent racialization of African Americans to the one-drop and the one-hate rules (i.e., treating all non-black minorities according to the same rules established for black victims of white racism). Hollinger's analyses are informative and at times provocative. However, his assertion that amalgamation is a greater reality than the melting pot may be hyperbolic, because interracial blending is still quite limited. For example, the 2000 Census reported that only 6.8 million, or about 3 percent, of Americans claimed mixed racial backgrounds. His complaint about the one-hate rule, although not wholly unwarranted, draws solely from historical discrimination with little consideration for ongoing forms of ethnoracial inequalities. |
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The third essay situates U.S. history as part of world history, claiming that such an approach is not anachronistic because the United States is a formidable player in global history. The next piece voices legitimate concerns that the growing commercialization of universities is eroding the solidarity of faculty to defend academic freedoms. The fifth paper rightly argues that universities do not need more Christianity and that academics better serve society by sticking to the rules of secular inquiry. Essay six weighs the legacy of the Enlightenment in contemporary intellectual movements such as modernism, postmodernism, and cosmopolitanism, particularly in the U.S. context. |
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The subsequent two essays engagingly address the preeminence of Jews in science and scholarship. Hollinger reminds us that Jewish demographic overrepresentation occurs not just in the sciences and scholarship, but also in arts, business, politics, and many other professions. He compellingly argues that this prominence needs to be explained to counter speculation concerning Jewish genetic superiority. I found credible his explanation that the Jewish diaspora impelled Jews to develop a higher degree of distinctive intellectual and business skills conducive for survival and prosperity. Hollinger's last article assesses the intellectual history of the cultural relativist movement within and beyond the field of anthropology, noting its developments, debates, contributions, and challenges. Here, Hollinger demonstrates his incisive grasp of cultural relativism as related to professional community associations and cosmopolitanism. His distinction between methodological and ideological dimensions of cultural relativism helps unravel the controversies over this divisive issue. |
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With essays written for different purposes, sponsors, and occasions that are kept intact here except for errors, it is too much to expect even a renowned author like Hollinger to develop cohesive themes for Cosmopolitanism and Solidarity. Nevertheless, this collection of essays loosely coheres around the problems of ethnoracial descent, religion, professional identities or affiliations, and how cosmopolitanism intersects with each. The headings for each article help readers fathom its context and argument and draw out some linkages among the essays. This collection reaffirms Hollinger's status as one of America's premier scholars in intellectual history, with a broad interdisciplinary knowledge, cosmopolitan worldview, and sharp insights into some of the most contested issues of the twenty-first century. This is a book invaluable not just to historians but to sociologists, other social scientists, and humanists as well.
Philip Q. Yang
Texas Woman's University
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