A review by cspeet
Moral Man and Immoral Society: Study in Ethics and Politics by Reinhold Niebuhr

4.0

This was an interesting book. The basic premise is that the rules and reasonable expectations of individual morality and group morality are different. Niebuhr posits that morality is an individual pursuit that finds its highest expression in self-denial as an expression of recognizing the values and needs of others. This is essentially an expression of love. Group behavior, society in other words, finds its highest concern in the cause of justice. However, Niebuhr claims that perfect social justice is almost if not impossible to achieve. Individual morality cannot stand up to the interests of the group and compromises must be made. In addition, there are always interested parties in power who will use force to maintain their power (even non-coercive behaviors like propaganda and due process of law). Still, Niebuhr maintains that the struggle for justice is important, and - in the end - he insists that a vision of perfect social justice is required in order to motivate those who struggle to achieve even a partial approximation of that justice. Dense, but worth the read.