Charles Murray's Social Contract

Register to read the introduction… Charles Murray. Commutative justice rests on a shared understanding of the rights and responsibilities of all parties to the basic social contract that holds a society together. On one level, the U.S. Constitution might be characterized as part of the social contract on which the American political system is based. But on a deeper, more fundamental, level, the social contract includes shared values which shape our expectations of others and ourselves with respect to morality, culture, self-reliance, and collective responsibility. Charles Murray, a political scientist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, calls into question the relevance of the social contract which he sees as the source of “the founding virtues” on which American civic life depends. In his recent provocative book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, he argues that “Our nation is coming apart at the seams” – “not ethnic seams, but the seams of class” (Confessore, 2012). He focuses on what he sees as the social and moral collapse of the white working class and the growing cultural gap between them and the white upper class. In your initial post, summarize Murray’s description of the white working class and the white upper class. Also, analyze the basis for his pessimistic outlook about government’s ability to solve this problem and re-invigorate America’s social contract. Finally, evaluate the relevance or usefulness of his views for understanding how socio-economic class