THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210055
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: BY ROSS C. REEVES
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
POLITICAL DEBATE is now awash with talk of ``values,'' from Dan Quayle to President Clinton. But growing realization of a strong correlation between ``values'' and social conditions largely begs the questions of whose values and on what authority do they claim legitimacy?
In ``The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values'' (Alfred A. Knopf, $24), Gertrude Himmelfarb illuminates the debate with the experience of Victorian England. Despite severe dislocations from rapid urbanization and industrialization, the Victorians controlled and eventually reduced rates of crime and illegitimacy. Their success, Himmelfarb argues, lay in their promotion of ``virtues,'' such as self-help, civility, sobriety, responsibility, education and philanthropy. The corollary, of course, is that contemporary America and England have gone to hell in a handbasket because they have replaced a society driven by virtues with one in which morals and values have no place.
Regardless of what one thinks about Himmelfarb's conclusions, her insight into Victorian society is fascinating. Two-thirds of ``The De-Moralization of Society'' is devoted to the issues of the era, from feminism to fin de siecle decadence, from the settlement house movement to the ``poor laws.'' Along the way, she explodes the myth that the Victorians were prudish and overly fastidious hypocrites. Rather, she asserts, their passion for reform and philanthropy evidenced a keen awareness of social conditions and the need to bring them into line with the ideal of a virtuous society.
It is also instructive that Victorian ``virtues'' were not religious in nature but rather flowered as utilitarian standards in a predominantly secular society. Himmelfarb, a history professor whose last book was ``On Looking Into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society,'' also convincingly argues that Victorian virtues were shared values - not middle-class morality imposed on the poor.
At the heart of Victorian virtues, Himmelfarb observes, was an insistence that philanthropy and reform be directed toward self-improvement and responsibility. Victorians were a century ahead of Americans in recognizing ``relief'' (welfare) as a right of citizenship, but they made sharp distinctions between the working ``poor'' and habitually idle ``paupers.'' Both were supported by relief, but the system was explicitly designed to provide carrots to the poor and apply sticks (in the form of workhouses) to paupers.
In her epilogue and her postscript, Himmelfarb turns her guns on contemporary society and the incredible rise of social pathologies, especially illegitimacy and crime. These are familiar and wearying statistics, but Himmelfarb refuses to let the reader ignore or tolerate them, much less rationalize them as anything less than the natural consequence of a breakdown in values.
She has no compunction about naming villains, and here the great political divide begins to yawn. The welfare state has removed personal responsibility as a condition to benefits. The government and the intelligentsia have banned concepts of virtue and morality from public debate as ``judgmental.'' The same moral relativism has elevated deviancy and promiscuity to respectable ``lifestyle choices.''
But even accepting her premise, the ultimate question remains: Whose values are proper for inclusion in public affairs? Himmelfarb gamely answers that the Victorians proved a secular society can improve the social condition of all classes by promoting utilitarian virtues: self-help, education, civility, cleanliness, sobriety, thrift, fidelity, responsibility, etc.
But it is far from clear that a ``virtuous'' society can limit itself to the utilitarian standards she commends. Should school prayer be introduced for reinforcement of universally recognized nonsectarian virtues, but not for the thornier ``values'' of faith and salvation? Can the pro-choice virtue of individual liberty be promoted without giving equal force to the religious convictions of pro-life advocates? Do our drug laws encourage the virtue of sobriety or criminalize the underclass?
As an articulate leader of today's value merchants, Himmelfarb presents an inarguable case for the restoration of virtues. But she is riding a tiger that may return with a smile and the lady inside. MEMO: Ross C. Reeves is a corporate attorney in Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Gertrude Himmelfarb presents an inarguable case for the restoration
of virtues.
by CNB