Individualism

I definitely agree with the second half of the Bellah quote. Our idealized (more communal) past society was sustained by sexism, racism, classism, etc. We definitely shouldn't go back to that. On the other hand, the individualistic society with a "pull-yourself up by the bootstraps" mentality isn't any better. It is based on the premise that everyone is equal and gains wealth, power, and status based on merit, when actually the circumstances that one is born into makes a huge difference. An individualistic society would be possibly only if everyone could actually be born equal. Since the gap between the rich and poor in many countries (America in particular) is actually increasing, individualism simply doesn't work. Most people are forced to rely on friends and family even if they'd prefer to be individualistic.