Danielle Allen: Talking to Strangers.

Danielle Allen: Talking to Strangers.

Danielle Allen's Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education

The civil society has often constituted a subject of great interest for scholars and practitioners. While some works focus on the role the individual plays within the society, others reveal the role society plays in the formation of the individual. Then, the topics become even more detailed and include matters such as the role of educational institutions and programs within the civil society or domestic violence. The findings of each study are mainly differentiated by the approach taken by the author - traditional or modern approach. This difference is obvious is most sociological studies.

The literature in the field is rather extensive and the opinions and findings on the subject are different, sometimes even conflicting. And not only do they counter argue each other, these statements also come to change the traditional approaches of the civil society. The most relevant example in this sense is Danielle Allen's Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education.

Sociologists often state that the individual is the results of social interactions and through a particularization then, it could be said that the writing of one individual may easily be generated by the individual's personal experiences and thoughts. Therefore, it would be relevant to take a closer look at the background of the book's author. Then, the paper will offer a brief summary of the entire book, to continue by answering several questions relating to Danielle Allen's approaches and opinions relative to traditional habits, the need to replace them with new ones and the expected outcome of such an endeavour.

2. Danielle Allen

Danielle Allen's resume is quite an impressive one - in 1996, she got her PhD in Classics from the Cambridge University and three years later, she got a PhD in Government from the Harvard University. She became an assistant professor and then a full university professor and taught subjects on both classic languages and literature, as well as politics. She began her teaching career at the University of Chicago in 1997, and between 2002 and 2007 she occupied the position of Dean of Division of Humanities. In 2007, Allen, was offered the position of UPS Founding Professor at the School for Social Sciences, the Institute for Advanced Study. She occupies that position in the present (the Institute for Advanced Study, 2008).

As her specializations reveal, the focus of Danielle Allen has been on politics and classics. She wrote pieces on both subjects and her contributions were significant to the fields. What is most relevant is her dual and combined approach of the issues. Otherwise put, Allen has strived to connect her two specialities and has looked at one through the lens of the other.

She applied the same approach relative to society in the meaning that she looked for historical features which could be applied today. And the community has recognized her merits. In 2002 for instance, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship "for her ability to combine the classicist's careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist's sophisticated and informed engagement" (the Institute for Advanced Study, 2008). "Her intellectual scope spans the fields of the classics, philosophy and political theory. Allen's work contributes new perspectives to discussions of race and politics that go beyond the confines of traditional and canonical scholarship" (John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University, 2005)

She wrote numerous articles in specialized journals and held several lectures, but she is most renowned for her two books: The World of Prometheus: the politics of punishing in democratic Athens and Talking to Strangers: anxieties of citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education.

3. Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education

Talking to Strangers was published in 2004 by the University of Chicago Press. The 232-page book is organized into three chapters, each with its subchapters as follows:

Part One: Loss - 1. Little Rock, a New Beginning; 2. Old Myths and New Epiphanies; 3. Sacrifice, a Democratic Fact; 4. Sacrifice and Citizenship

Part Two: Why We Have Bad Habits - 5. Imperfect Democracy; 6. Imperfect People; 7. Imperfect Pearls / Imperfect Ideas

Part Three: New Democratic Vistas - 8. Beyond Invisible Citizens; 9. Brotherhood, Love and Political Friendship, 10. Rhetoric, a Good Thing; 11. Epilogue

The main thesis of the book is that in order for the society to properly function, we must cast out the traditional and old habits, and replace them with newer ones, more adapted to the requirements of the contemporaneous society. The title of the book says much in this direction as the idiom talking to strangers comes to replace the saying of all parents across the globe: do not talk to strangers.

Allen observes the situation in Little Rock, the mistrust between races and individuals in general, which forced parents to advice their children not to talk to strangers. The analysis is based on a photograph dating back from 1957, presenting young Elizabeth Eckford being cursed by Hazel Bryan when she was enrolling for the first day of school; the picture was taken during the racial segregation of Central High School in Little Rock.

Source: Allen, 2004

The author presents a series of comments on the racial tensions at that time, as well as the social and political implications of these tensions. The photograph represented a moment of political importance for the races, and several political, social and emotional strains became obvious at the time. "Through a series of epiphany-like revelations about the fundamental meaning of the interracial encounters and tensions described, she leads us analytically from the notion of sacrifice through reciprocity and mutual trust to "political friendship" as an accessible ideal for American relationships" (Morris, 2006).

In this part of the book, Allen reveals the construction of the American society throughout 1954 up to 1965, during the civil rights movement. However, she believes that from that point on, not much has changed for the better and that distrust has further increased. Therefore, she believes it is time for new changes in our society. "We have fresh aspirations and reformed institutions but not yet new forms of citizenship" (Allen, 2004).

Then, she suggests that instead of distrust, the members of the civil society should act based on a "citizenship of political friendship" (Allen, 2004). She recognizes that society has yet to reach such a level, and she proposes a series of courses of action in this direction. These suggestions are based on both personal insight, as well as information retrieved from other writings on philosophy, sociology and politics.

The key element in all suggestions is sacrifice. Individual sacrifice within a society will help increase the trust in the members of the community; parents will no longer advice children not to talk to strangers and a model of political friendship will be implemented. Ultimately, Danielle Allen presents several solutions which would help the contemporaneous civil society achieve meaningful and trustworthy relationships, within a model of democratic citizenry.

4. Critique of the Book

Danielle Allen-based much of her work unto the direct observation of our society, but also on historical works of other scholars. In the first chapter for instance, she presents the situation of African-American student, being cursed by a white colleague. While the situation is tragic and presents a moment of political tension, there is not much that can be said or done to correct that moment. However, the author believes that it is important to recognize the historical importance of past events, consider them, learn from them and implement the new knowledge to help today's civil society.

In an interview about the book, Allen stated: "The best we can do now to honor the losses then endured is to recover their history, understand their consequences, and develop more democratic methods of determining community development policies. To begin acknowledging the ordinary, everyday sacrifices of their fellows, citizens must recognize that no plan, no policy, no proposal -- even those held dearest -- is without cost to someone. Not all such costs will count as sacrifices, but many do, and we need to see them if we are to understand the basis of our social stability" (Interview with Danielle Allen, 2004)

Ultimately then, Allen uses a historical approach in the meaning that she analyzes various past situations and the theoretical approaches of those situations. Some examples of how the UPS Founding Professor historicizes the need to break out the old habits and replace them with new ones refer to her approach to the visions of Aristotle, Plato, Martin Luther King, Jurgen Habermas or Thomas Hobbes.

The author of Talking to Strangers draws much on the models of citizenships in antiquity. As it has been stated before, her suggestions are often based on the writings of other scholars and practitioners. The most significant source of material for Danielle Allen is Greek philosopher Aristotle. She also draws on the secondary texts written by other authors on the works of Aristotle. "I seek to discern the different analytical techniques Aristotle brings to bear on the problem of what justice is" (Allen, 2004). What is interesting to be noticed is that even in the beginning of the book, when presenting the racial segregation at the high school in Little Rock, Allen does not turn to religion to explain or condemn the practice, but to the social principles of the Greek philosopher (Morris, 2006).

Some of these principles promoted by Aristotle and used by Danielle Allen could be succinctly presented as follows:

fluidity of our conceptual universe the power / or lack of power of persuasion the art of generating trust the difference between means and intentions friendship and justice - "if men are friends, there is no need for justice between them whereas merely to be just is not enough - it is also necessary to be friends" (Allen 2004 quoting Aristotle) - friendship is hereby presented in terms of politics, not just social virtues the interchangeability of friendship and successful citizenship liberality, magnanimity, courage interaction, speech, living together with strangers and acquaintances" (Allen, 2004)

The author of Talking to Strangers looks at the works of Aristotle through the lens of the Plato's writings and compares the two. Aristotle for instance argues the existence of an art to generate trust, whereas Plato does not believe in it. Their opinions also vary relative to the power of persuasion.

Another relevant source is Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, from which Allen adopts the concepts of social equality, based on a chain of mutual responsibilities and obligations. Given this chain, the members of society would be better able to interact and trust one another, taking one more step towards the society of civil democracy. The same idea was used by Martin Luther King, but instead of chain of mutual obligations, he refers to the social connectivity as an "inescapable network of mutuality," bringing Americans together at all times. Allen embraces this vision and further states that achieving it requires the individual sacrifice of all society members.

The historic views of Martin Luther King are also revealed by the mentioning of the "I Have a Dream" speech. In this, King spoke about the equal rights of blacks and whites, and the hope that one day the black men and women would enjoy the same rights as the white men and women. He believed that a stable society could not be reached unless this day comes. "There will be neither rest nor tranquillity in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges" (Allen 2004 quoting Martin Luther King).

Aside Plato, Aristotle and Martin Luther King, the UPS Founding Professor also uses the historical approach to the writing of Jurgen Habermas and Thomas Hobbes, coming to disagree with both authors. Habermas militates for a "disinterested communication" and Hobbes states that life is "nasty, brutish and short." "She (Danielle Allen) quickly but persuasively concludes that such "disinterested communication" is of no real assistance in the resolution of conflict. For Allen, Thomas Hobbes and his view that life is "nasty, brutish, and short" in societies without strong government fares far better than Habermas's perspectives as intellectual building blocks. In the end, however, she insists that Habermas's preoccupation with institutional strictures misses the importance of expressive and persuasive communication" (Morris, 2006).

The conclusions of the numerous observations made point out to a need to renounce the old habits and replace them with new ones. These old habits refer to behavioural patterns, actions or reactions within social interactions. The need to adopt new techniques is explained by the fact that newer approaches to the civil society would:

increase the trust among society members ensure the equality and equal rights of all members of the civil society social prosperity and understanding can only be accomplished through sacrifice (Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter for the benefit of the community) ultimately, we would be able to achieve the model of a democratic citizenship based on political friendship

An interesting fact is that throughout the entire book, Danielle Allen does not use the word "racism," but that of interracial distrust. There are two reasons for it - first of all, the word racism carries a heavy baggage of historical misconduct towards the black and the matter is up to today extremely controversial. Then, the second reason is that racial mistrust is somehow different from racism. In this order of ideas, racism simply reveals the years of hardships the backs had to suffer from the part of the whites. Interracial distrust on the other hand points out that the negative feelings are revealed by all races across the globe, not just by whites towards blacks. "Interracial distrust, in contrast, captures the fact that negative feelings flow all ways across multiple racial and ethnic lines" (Interview with Danielle Allen, 2004).