The American Ideology explicates and criticizes two notions of reason in society: efficiency and the concept of the reasonable. Despite their considerable appeal, these notions nowadays underwrite an orientation towards public policy that is both inadequate and beneficial to elite interests; an orientation that constitutes a distinct American Ideology. To make this case, Levine traces the history of the concept of efficiency, from Hobbes, through the utilitarian tradition, to contemporary economic and philosophical paradigms; and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the democratic theory implicit in John Rawls's pioneering work on justice and political legitimacy.
