Communitarians do not believe in coercion.
Some, often in the libertarian or individualist camps, will use the term communitarian as a pejorative, that is, a dig against those whom they deem to have authoritarian or collectivistic tendencies.
This, however, couldn't be further from the truth.
Communitarians do not believe in a top-down, police state. Nor do they think authoritarianism should supplant democracy. Rather, they are respectful of rights and individual autonomy, while also being cognizant of the need for a robust social fabric.
The great Amitai Etzioni in his book, The New Golden Rule, makes the case that communitarianism essentially represents a balance between bounded individualism and social order.
To be in favor of social order, however, does not mean that you subscribe to social conservatism or other ideologies that seek to police private behavior.
Etzioni writes:
One cardinal difference between the social conservative and the communitarian paradigm advanced here is the standing of autonomy. It is basic to the communitarian paradigm; it is secondary or derivative in social conservative paradigms.
It's certainly true that communitarians - myself included - believe that American society has drifted too far into a me-centric paradigm, but they do not think there should be an over-correction.
If, for example, America's neoliberal era is succeeded by an age of illiberalism and police states, we'll know that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.
The unbounded liberalism of late-18th century France and the authoritarianism of Mao's China are both bad.
"A good society," writes Etzioni, "requires a balance between autonomy and order."
Very well. Now that we've dispelled that misnomer, let's have an awesome week!
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