A Critique of the Welfare State

This volume collects the essays of one of the most thoughtful academic theorists writing on American politics today. While not systematic, they are learned, eloquent, intellectually independent, deeply troubled and often deeply troubling.

Part of the interest of Schaar’s work is that he does not fit easily into any of the standard ideological categories. On the dust jacket his publisher notes that he often draws on conservative sources and indeed he does. Moreover, he is frequently critical of the left in these essays. Schaar argues that if his criticism of the left seems disproportionate it is because the right has not succeeded in producing anything in recent years worth bothering with. If Schaar is a conservative at all, he is not the ordinary sort and is most certainly worth bothering with.

Schaar’s position can perhaps best be defined negatively; above all else he is not a liberal. He is disturbed by the long association of liberalism with capitalism a...