John Stuart Mill and the social construction of identity

History of Political Thought

Volumn 25, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 298-324

  Smits, Katherine ^a  

^a MIAMI UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 3242803616     PISSN: 0143781X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (134)

1. See Isaiah Berlin's essays 'Two Concepts of Liberty' and 'John Stuart Mill and the Ends of Life', in Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford, 1969), pp. 118-72 and 173-206. Some critics have claimed that Mill in fact asserted a paternalistic moralism, in which liberty was less important than, and less instrumental in, the achievement of social progress and reform. For a recent statement, see Joseph Hamburger, John Stuart Mill on Liberty and Control (Princeton, 1999). I do no more than note these arguments here, as my own are centred not on the ultimate value of liberty for Mill, but on his views concerning the relationship between group membership and moral belief.
2. See Isaiah Berlin's essays 'Two Concepts of Liberty' and 'John Stuart Mill and the Ends of Life', in Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford, 1969), pp. 118-72 and 173-206. Some critics have claimed that Mill in fact asserted a paternalistic moralism, in which liberty was less important than, and less instrumental in, the achievement of social progress and reform. For a recent statement, see Joseph Hamburger, John Stuart Mill on Liberty and Control (Princeton, 1999). I do no more than note these arguments here, as my own are centred not on the ultimate value of liberty for Mill, but on his views concerning the relationship between group membership and moral belief.
3. Will Kymlicka, Liberalism, Community and Culture (Oxford, 1989), pp. 208-9.
4. Shirley Robin Letwin, The Pursuit of Certainty (Cambridge, 1965), p. 252. See also Graeme Duncan, who refers to Mill's liberal politics as 'democratic - or even bourgeois democratic - Platonism', because of the emphasis he gives to the guiding role of the intellectual elite. Graeme Duncan, Marx and Mill: Two Views of Social Conflict and Social Harmony (Cambridge, 1973), p. 259.
5. Shirley Robin Letwin, The Pursuit of Certainty (Cambridge, 1965), p. 252. See also Graeme Duncan, who refers to Mill's liberal politics as 'democratic - or even bourgeois democratic - Platonism', because of the emphasis he gives to the guiding role of the intellectual elite. Graeme Duncan, Marx and Mill: Two Views of Social Conflict and Social Harmony (Cambridge, 1973), p. 259.
6. Bhikhu Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism (Cambridge, MA, 2000), pp. 43-4.
7. Contrary to Parekh's assertion (see fn. 5, above), Mill does not assume that the social structure provides equal opportunities for success for different characters and ways of life. His arguments for the representation of women and the working classes explicitly refer to the importance of securing political and economic power for these groups.
8. Gerald Gaus argues that the liberalisms articulated by Locke and James Mill 'share a vision of men as essentially independent, private and competitive beings who see civil association mainly as a framework for the pursuit of their own interests'. See Gerald Gaus, The Modern Liberal Theory of Man (London, 1983), p. 7.
9. Janice Carlisle discusses the relationship between Mill's construction of his own character and his analysis of the influences upon character development in John Stuart Mill and the Writing of Character (Athens, GA, 1991).
10. Stefan Collini, 'The Idea of "Character" in Victorian Political Thought', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th series, 35 (1983), p. 33.
11. Anthony Appiah distinguishes these as the collective and personal dimensions of identity, in 'Identity, Authenticity, Survival: Multicultural Societies and Social Reproduction', in Multiculturalism, ed. Amy Gutmann (Princeton, 1994), p. 151.
12. Ibid., p. 31.
13. In 'On Liberty', for example, Mill asserts that only people sharing in a specific national character - that of advanced Western societies - are fit to enjoy the liberties ensured by democratic government. See J.S. Mill, 'On Liberty', in On Liberty and Other Writings, ed. Stefan Collini (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 13-14.
14. Collini, 'The Idea of "Character" ', p. 36.
15. C.B. Macpherson makes this argument in Democratic Theory: Essays in Retrieval (Oxford, 1973), p. 32. For a more sympathetic discussion, see Nancy L. Rosenblum, Another Liberalism: Romanticism and the Reconstruction of Liberal Thought (Cambridge, MA, 1987), especially pp. 15-16.
16. C.B. Macpherson makes this argument in Democratic Theory: Essays in Retrieval (Oxford, 1973), p. 32. For a more sympathetic discussion, see Nancy L. Rosenblum, Another Liberalism: Romanticism and the Reconstruction of Liberal Thought (Cambridge, MA, 1987), especially pp. 15-16.
17. Wendy Donner discusses the Aristotelian aspects of Mill's thought on character. See W. Donner, The Liberal Self: John Stuart Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy (Ithaca, NY, 1991), pp. 120-1.
18. Richard Bellamy, 'Introduction', in Victorian Liberalism: Nineteenth-Century Political Thought and Practice, ed. Richard Bellamy (London, 1990), p. 9. See also Michael Freeden, The New Liberalism: An Ideology of Social Reform (Oxford, 1978), pp. 170-2.
19. Richard Bellamy, 'Introduction', in Victorian Liberalism: Nineteenth-Century Political Thought and Practice, ed. Richard Bellamy (London, 1990), p. 9. See also Michael Freeden, The New Liberalism: An Ideology of Social Reform (Oxford, 1978), pp. 170-2.
20. Richard Ashcraft, 'Class Conflict and Constitutionalism in J.S. Mill's Thought', in Liberalism and the Moral Life, ed. Nancy L. Rosenblum (Cambridge, MA, 1989), p. 107. As Ashcraft argues in a later essay, Mill's criticism of Bentham here forms part of his more general reorientation of political theory to reflect social structures and distribution of power within society. See Richard Ashcraft, 'John Stuart Mill and the Theoretical Foundations of Democratic Socialism', in Mill and the Moral Character of Liberalism, ed. Eldon J. Eisenach (University Park, PA, 1998), p. 171.
21. Richard Ashcraft, 'Class Conflict and Constitutionalism in J.S. Mill's Thought', in Liberalism and the Moral Life, ed. Nancy L. Rosenblum (Cambridge, MA, 1989), p. 107. As Ashcraft argues in a later essay, Mill's criticism of Bentham here forms part of his more general reorientation of political theory to reflect social structures and distribution of power within society. See Richard Ashcraft, 'John Stuart Mill and the Theoretical Foundations of Democratic Socialism', in Mill and the Moral Character of Liberalism, ed. Eldon J. Eisenach (University Park, PA, 1998), p. 171.
22. See John Stuart Mill, 'Bentham', in The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, ed. J.M. Robson (33 vols., Toronto, 1974-91), Vol. X, pp. 77-115.
23. John Stuart Mill, 'The Subjection of Women', in On Liberty and Other Writings, ed. Collini, p. 139.
24. Mill, 'Bentham', pp. 90-1.
25. John Stuart Mill, 'A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive', in Collected Works, VIII, p. 869.
26. I b i d.
27. Ibid., p. 904.
28. I am indebted to an anonymous HPT reader for drawing my attention to Mill's interchangeable use of 'national' and 'collective' here.
29. Mill, 'A System of Logic', p. 868.
30. Georgios Varouxakis discusses the importance for Mill of comparisons between France and England in Mill on Nationality (London, 2002), ch. 4.
31. Varouxakis surveys recent competing and contradictory interpretations of Mill's attitude towards nationalism in ibid., pp. 5-7.
32. John Stuart Mill, 'Vindication of the French Revolution of February 1848', in Collected Works, XX, p. 347; John Stuart Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', in Collected Works, XIX, pp. 549-50.
33. John Stuart Mill, 'Vindication of the French Revolution of February 1848', in Collected Works, XX, p. 347; John Stuart Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', in Collected Works, XIX, pp. 549-50.
34. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', p. 547.
35. Ibid., ch. II, pp. 383-98.
36. Georgios Varouxakis discusses these two aspects of the relationship between national character and political institutions in 'National Character in John Stuart Mill's Thought', History of European Ideas, 24 (6) (1999), p. 376.
37. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', p. 549.
38. Uday Mehta, Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-Century British Liberal Thought (Chicago, 1999).
39. Ibid., pp. 149, 191. Mehta argues that this failure stems in part from the tendency of Victorian liberals (whom he compares unfavourably to Burke and Rousseau) to overemphasize national markers such as shared language and religion, and to discount the importance of shared territory. Such an emphasis is consistent with my argument here that nationality is crucial for Mill because of the way in which it shaped individual identity.
40. Mill, 'Vindication of the French Revolution of February 1848', p. 348.
41. Mill, 'On Liberty', pp. 13-14; Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', ch. IV, pp. 413-21.
42. Mill, 'On Liberty', pp. 13-14; Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', ch. IV, pp. 413-21.
43. Kymlicka, Liberalism, Community and Culture, p. 209.
44. As C.B. Macpherson has pointed out, the existence of a working class dependent solely on the sale of their labour underpinned Bentham's prescribed economic system. Moreover, Bentham assumed differences between categories of people, such as the different sensibilities of the sexes and social classes. But he made no attempt formally to incorporate group membership into his system of ethics or political representation. See C.B. Macpherson, The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy (Oxford, 1977), pp. 28, 30.
45. John Stuart Mill, 'The Claims of Labour', in Collected Works, IV p. 369.
46. Macpherson, Life and Times of Liberal Democracy, p. 49.
47. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', pp. 441-7.
48. Ashcraft, 'Mill and the Theoretical Foundations of Democratic Socialism', p. 179.
49. J.W. Burrow, Whigs and Liberals: Continuity and Change in English Political Thought (Oxford, 1988), p. 106.
50. Ashcraft, 'Class Conflict and Constitutionalism', p. 111.
51. Mill, 'Bentham', p. 90.
52. Ibid., p. 109.
53. Mill, 'On Liberty', p. 10.
54. In his early work (such as 'The Reorganization of the Reform Party') Mill was most concerned with opposition between the rising middle classes and the aristocracy. Later his attention shifted to relations between the middle and the (most numerous) working classes. On this, see Duncan, Marx and Mill, p. 219.
55. Mill, 'The Subjection of Women', p. 38.
56. John Stuart Mill, 'Principles of Political Economy', Collected Works, III, pp. 819-20.
57. As Duncan comments of 'The Reorganization of the Reform Party': 'It is the moral quality imputed to the radicals which takes the breath away . . . ' . Duncan, Marx and Mill, p. 223.
58. Mill, 'Principles of Political Economy', Collected Works, II, p. 367; III, pp. 763, 770.
59. Mill, 'Principles of Political Economy', Collected Works, II, p. 367; III, pp. 763, 770.
60. Mill, 'The Claims of Labour', p. 380.
61. John Stuart Mill, 'De Tocqueville on Democracy in America [II]', Collected Works, XVIII, p. 181.
62. John Stuart Mill, 'Thoughts on Parliamentary Reform', Collected Works, XIX.
63. Mill, 'The Subjection of Women', p. 169.
64. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', p. 404.
65. Ibid., p. 405. Mill's views on the necessity for representation of minorities are discussed by Bruce Baum in 'Freedom, Power and Public Opinion: J.S. Mill on the Public Sphere', History of Political Thought, XXII (3) (2001), pp. 508-10.
66. Ibid., p. 405. Mill's views on the necessity for representation of minorities are discussed by Bruce Baum in 'Freedom, Power and Public Opinion: J.S. Mill on the Public Sphere', History of Political Thought, XXII (3) (2001), pp. 508-10.
67. Janice Carlisle, 'Mr. J. Stuart Mill, M.P., and the Character of the Working Classes', in Mill and the Moral Character of Liberalism, ed. Eisenach, pp. 143-67.
68. John Stuart Mill, speech to the House of Commons on The Representation of the People bill, Collected Works, XXVIII, p. 61.
69. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', pp. 467-8.
70. Mill, 'On Liberty', p. 57.
71. Mill, on The Representation of the People bill, p. 65.
72. John Stuart Mill, 'Chapters on Socialism', Collected Works, V, p. 707.
73. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', p. 446.
74. Mill, 'On Liberty', p. 10.
75. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', ch. VII.
76. Mill, 'The Reorganization of the Reform Party', Collected Works, VI, p. 469.
77. Donner, The Liberal Self, pp. 120-1.
78. The dominance of this Romantic conception in later liberal thought is clear from Rawls' reference to it in the form of a 'plan of life'. Rawls derives the term from the American Idealist Josiah Royce, who was himself a disciple of T.H. Green. See John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, MA, 1971), p. 408.
79. Mill, 'On Liberty', p. 57.
80. Ibid., pp. 58-9.
81. John Stuart Mill, 'Autobiography', in A. Ryan, Autobiography and Other Writings, ed. Jack Stillinger (Boston, 1969), p. 93. Alan Ryan discusses the failures of Mill's attempt thus to reconcile free will and determinism in A. Ryan, John Stuart Mill (New York, 1970), and in 'Mill's Political Thought', in A Cultivated Mind: Essays on J.S. Mill presented to John M. Robson, ed. John M. Robson and Michael Laine (Toronto, 1991), p. 135.
82. John Stuart Mill, 'Autobiography', in A. Ryan, Autobiography and Other Writings, ed. Jack Stillinger (Boston, 1969), p. 93. Alan Ryan discusses the failures of Mill's attempt thus to reconcile free will and determinism in A. Ryan, John Stuart Mill (New York, 1970), and in 'Mill's Political Thought', in A Cultivated Mind: Essays on J.S. Mill presented to John M. Robson, ed. John M. Robson and Michael Laine (Toronto, 1991), p. 135.
83. John Stuart Mill, 'Autobiography', in A. Ryan, Autobiography and Other Writings, ed. Jack Stillinger (Boston, 1969), p. 93. Alan Ryan discusses the failures of Mill's attempt thus to reconcile free will and determinism in A. Ryan, John Stuart Mill (New York, 1970), and in 'Mill's Political Thought', in A Cultivated Mind: Essays on J.S. Mill presented to John M. Robson, ed. John M. Robson and Michael Laine (Toronto, 1991), p. 135.
84. Mill, 'A System of Logic', pp. 840-1.
85. Mill, 'Considerations on Representative Government', p. 459.
86. For an extended discussion of the importance of Mill's socialism, see Ashcraft, 'Class Conflict and Constitutionalism', pp. 114-16.
87. Gaus, The Modern Liberal Theory of Man, p. 120.
88. See Martin Pugh, State and Society: A Social and Political History of Britain, 1870-1997 (London, 2nd edn., 1999), ch. 3.
89. This is well discussed by Ian Bradley in I. Bradley, The Optimists: Themes and Personalities in Victorian Liberalism (London, 1980), pp. 82-4. Many (emerging) liberals earlier in the century had supported Greek independence, although not all; Fred Rosen argues that an 'authoritarian' (or paternalistic) strand of liberal thinking, developed in India, was in fact opposed to Greek self-determination. See Fred Rosen, Bentham, Byron and Greece (Oxford, 1992), pp. 149-51.
90. This is well discussed by Ian Bradley in I. Bradley, The Optimists: Themes and Personalities in Victorian Liberalism (London, 1980), pp. 82-4. Many (emerging) liberals earlier in the century had supported Greek independence, although not all; Fred Rosen argues that an 'authoritarian' (or paternalistic) strand of liberal thinking, developed in India, was in fact opposed to Greek self-determination. See Fred Rosen, Bentham, Byron and Greece (Oxford, 1992), pp. 149-51.
91. Ibid., p. 83.
92. Steven Lukes, Individualism (Oxford, 1973), pp. 20-1.
93. G.W.F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History, trans. J. Sibree (Buffalo, NY, 1991), p. 39.
94. T.H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics (Oxford, 1969), p. 218.
95. Ibid., p. 219.
96. Ibid., p. 232.
97. For Green, of course, liberty also meant freedom from irrational desires - thus opening the gates to more extensive social legislation designed to 'liberate' the working classes from their selfish animal or 'lower' desires. Green's conception of individual liberty and the role of choice is famously distinguished from Mill's by Berlin in 'Two Concepts of Liberty'.
98. The concept of a gradually extending community of fellows dates to Tocqueville, who, as David Boucher has pointed out, argues that civility is at first practised amongst people recognized as being of one's own kind, but is then extended as excluded classes are incorporated into one's moral community. Boucher discusses the significance of this idea in the work of R.G. Collingwood and in contemporary communitarian thinking in D. Boucher, 'Tocqueville, Collingwood, History and Extending the Moral Community', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2 (3), pp. 326-51.
99. T.H. Green, 'Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation', in Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation and Other Writings, ed. Paul Harris and John Morrow (Cambridge, 1986), p. 97.
100. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, p. 251.
101. Ibid., p. 288.
102. Green, 'Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation', p. 181.
103. Andrew Vincent and Raymond Plant, Philosophy, Politics and Citizenship: The Life and Thought of the British Idealists (Oxford, 1984), p. 29.
104. T.H. Green, 'Lectures on "Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract" ', in Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation, ed. Harris and Morrow, pp. 195-6.
105. L.T. Hobhouse, The Metaphysical Theory of the State (London, 1918), pp. 29-30.
106. L.T. Hobhouse, 'Liberalism', in Liberalism and Other Writings, ed. James Meadowcroft (Cambridge, 1994), p. 64.
107. Ibid., p. 77.
108. L.T. Hobhouse, 'Sociology', in Sociology and Philosophy: A Centenary Collection of Essays and Articles, introduced by Morris Ginsberg (Cambridge, 1966), p. 39.
109. Ibid., p. 40. Elsewhere, Hobhouse examines the role of voluntary associations and argues that liberal principles may also be enjoined to protect individuals against associations which act oppressively towards their members. See Hobhouse, 'Liberalism', p. 18.
110. Ibid., p. 40. Elsewhere, Hobhouse examines the role of voluntary associations and argues that liberal principles may also be enjoined to protect individuals against associations which act oppressively towards their members. See Hobhouse, 'Liberalism', p. 18.
111. Hobhouse, The Metaphysical Theory of the State, p. 85.
112. I b i d.
113. L.T. Hobhouse, Social Development (London, 1924), pp. 154-5.
114. Hobhouse points out that class relations in fact cut across state borders. Ibid., p. 103.
115. This inconsistency in Hobhouse's views is discussed by Gaus in Modern Liberal Theory of Man, pp. 92-3.
116. Stefan Collini, Liberalism and Sociology: L T. Hobhouse and Political Argument in England 1880-1924 (Cambridge, 1979), p. 97.
117. Ibid., p. 126.
118. Ibid., p. 128.
119. Vincent and Plant, Philosophy, Politics and Citizenship, p. 65.
120. Ibid.,p. 66.
121. For discussions of the attitudes of later nineteenth-century liberals towards the women's suffrage movement, see Martin Pugh, 'Liberals and Women's Suffrage, 1867-1914', in Citizenship and Community, ed. Eugenio Biagini (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 45-5; and Peter Clarke, Liberals and Social Democrats (Cambridge, 1978), p. 138.
122. For discussions of the attitudes of later nineteenth-century liberals towards the women's suffrage movement, see Martin Pugh, 'Liberals and Women's Suffrage, 1867-1914', in Citizenship and Community, ed. Eugenio Biagini (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 45-5; and Peter Clarke, Liberals and Social Democrats (Cambridge, 1978), p. 138.
123. Vincent and Plant, Philosophy, Politics and Citizenship, pp. 121-2.
124. Christopher Kent, Brains and Numbers: Elitism, Comtism and Democracy in Mid-Victorian England (Toronto, 1978), pp. xi-xii; Christopher Harvie, The Lights of Liberalism: University Liberals and the Challenge of Democracy 1860-86 (London, 1976), pp. 11-15.
125. Christopher Kent, Brains and Numbers: Elitism, Comtism and Democracy in Mid-Victorian England (Toronto, 1978), pp. xi-xii; Christopher Harvie, The Lights of Liberalism: University Liberals and the Challenge of Democracy 1860-86 (London, 1976), pp. 11-15.
126. Berlin, 'Mill and the Ends of Life', p. 178.
127. Berlin, 'Two Concepts of Liberty', pp. 167-72.
128. Joseph Raz, The Morality of Freedom (Oxford, 1986), p. 398.
129. See for example K. Anthony Appiah, 'Identity, Authenticity, Survival: Multicultural Societies and Social Reproduction', in Multiculturalism, ed. Gutmann, pp. 156-63.
130. Iris Marion Young addresses this issue in Inclusion and Democracy (Oxford, 2000), pp. 81-120. See also Melissa Williams, Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation (Princeton, 1998).
131. Iris Marion Young addresses this issue in Inclusion and Democracy (Oxford, 2000), pp. 81-120. See also Melissa Williams, Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation (Princeton, 1998).
132. Young, Inclusion and Democracy, p. 119.
133. It should also be noted that affirmative action is defended as a temporary measure, which will be unnecessary once historical injustices have adequately been compensated for. At that point, supporters of the policy argue, minorities will be represented in universities and the workplace in proportion to their numbers. Similarly, Mill believed that group representation would eventually become unnecessary once human progress had integrated and equalized the relations between social groups.
134. I am grateful to Nancy Hirschmann, Isaac Kramnick, Henry Shue and Martin Wechselblatt for comments on earlier versions of this paper, as well as to lain HampsherMonk and two anonymous reviewers for History of Political Thought for advice on revision.