Romanticism, community and social services

Abstract

A society engages in policy romanticism when it maintains a tenacious attachment to distorted assertions about reality that are institutionalized in both the public and private sectors. The invocation of community to commend a sublime subjectivity that pre-empts questioning is realized in the concept of social capital. Community and social capital are both romantic notions buttressing American public policies that maintain great inequalities and ignore the concrete needs of many citizens. In the United States, public policy reflects private attitudes. In this way, the inadequacies and ineffectiveness of many social welfare programs are intentional choices rather than distortions of the people's will. Democracy is not an inevitable prelude to decency.