Synopsis
A conservative diagnosis of modern social decay, arguing that the erosion of community and intermediate institutions leaves isolated individuals exposed to centralized power.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workAs family, church, and local association wither, the lone individual stands defenseless before the expanding power of the centralized state.
It warns that destroying the small communities between person and state breeds both isolation and the conditions for tyranny.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics.
Reading note
Read Nisbet for his sociological account of community, connecting his concerns to a longer conservative worry about atomization.
Best paired with
Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics