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American exceptionalism is the theory that the United States is inherently different from other nations.〔(''American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword.'' ) Seymour Martin Lipset. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 1996. Page 18. .〕 In this view, American exceptionalism stems from its emergence from the American Revolution, thereby becoming what political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called "the first new nation"〔Seymour Martin Lipset, ''The first new nation'' (1963).〕 and developing a uniquely American ideology, "Americanism", based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, democracy and laissez-faire. This ideology itself is often referred to as "American exceptionalism."〔 Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and other American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense.〔Lipset, ''American Exceptionalism'', pp. 1, 17–19, 165–174, 197〕〔The American Spectator : In Defense of American Exceptionalism "(the conditions American Exceptionalism provides ), allow us to enjoy the economic and social mobility that other countries envy" and "progressivism rejects American Exceptionalism".〕 To them, the U.S. is like the biblical "City upon a Hill"—a phrase evoked by British colonists to North America as early as 1630—and exempt from historical forces that have affected other countries.〔Harold Koh, "America's Jekyll-and-Hyde Exceptionalism", in Michael Ignatieff, ed., ''American Exceptionalism and Human Rights'', p. 112〕 The theory of the exceptionalism of the U.S. can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the country as "exceptional" in 1831 and 1840.〔de Tocqueville, Alexis. (''Democracy in America'' ) (1840), part 2, page 36: "The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no other democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one."〕 ==Terminology== The exact term "American exceptionalism" was occasionally used in the 19th century.〔Fred Shapiro, in his ''The Yale Book of Quotations'' notes that "exceptionalism" was used to refer to the United States and its self-image by The Times of London on August 20, 1861.(Zimmer, Ben "Did Stalin Really Coin "American Exceptionalism"?", Slate.com ) Retrieved 1st of February 2015〕 Its common use dates from Communist usage the late 1920s. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin chastised members of the Jay Lovestone-led faction of the American Communist Party for its claim that America was independent of the Marxist laws of history "thanks to its natural resources, industrial capacity, and absence of rigid class distinctions". Stalin may have been told of the usage "American exceptionalism" by Brouder & Zack in ''Daily Worker'' (N.Y.) on the 29th of January 1929, before Lovestone's visit to Moscow. American Communists started using the English term "American exceptionalism" in factional fights. It then moved into general use among intellectuals.〔Albert Fried, (''Communism in America: A History in Documents'' ) (1997), p. 7.〕 In 1989, Scottish political scientist Richard Rose noted that most American historians endorse exceptionalism. He suggests that these historians reason as follows: America marches to a different drummer. Its uniqueness is explained by any or all of a variety of reasons: history, size, geography, political institutions, and culture. Explanations of the growth of government in Europe are not expected to fit American experience, and vice versa. However, postnationalist scholars have rejected American exceptionalism, arguing that the U.S. had not broken from European history, and accordingly, the U.S. has retained class-based and race-based inequalities, as well as imperialism and willingness to wage war.〔David W. Noble, ''Death of a nation: American culture and the end of exceptionalism'', pp. xxiii ff.〕 In recent years scholars from numerous disciplines, as well as politicians and commentators in the popular media, have debated the meaning and usefulness of the concept. Roberts and DeCuirci ask: :Why has the myth of American exceptionalism, characterized by a belief in America's highly distinctive features or unusual trajectory based in the abundance of its natural resources, its revolutionary origins and its protestant religious culture that anticipated God's blessing of the nation, held such tremendous staying power, from its influence in popular culture to its critical role in foreign policy?〔Timothy Roberts and Lindsay DiCuirci, eds., ''American Exceptionalism'' (2013) vol 1 p 9〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「American exceptionalism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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