Rieff, Philip

Stephen Gardner and Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn discuss Philip Reiff’s diagnosis of how psychology replaced the social roles of religion, morality, and custom, redefining the meaning of what is public. (39 minutes)

Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn reflects on the similarities between Philip Rieff’s complex cultural analysis and the breathless and breezy accounts of modern culture produced by Tom Wolfe. (15 minutes)

FEATURED GUESTS: Stephen Gardner, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, Wilfred McClay, David Wells, James K. A. Smith, and Robert Littlejohn

The modern elevation of individual autonomy leads to postmodern suspicion of all authority, and eventually to postculturalism. Insights from Christopher Clausen and Philip Rieff.