Keywords
Rousseau
How to Cite
Abstract
What is the role of entertainment in contemporary democratic society? While Rousseau is not himself a democrat, his insights into the value of entertainment are valuable for those dealing with the question in democratic theory. Rousseau finds that entertainment can shape politics, but there is a need to differentiate between healthy and corrupt forms of entertainment. Focusing on his Letter to M. D’Alembert on Spectaclesand Considerations on Poland, we detail Rousseau’s distinction between good and bad entertainments. For Rousseau, bad entertainments are frivolous, they isolate people, impose an economic burden, and degrade public morals. Good entertainments are honest and simple, communal, inspire virtue, and foster patriotism. By making this distinction, we can begin to think more critically about cultivating good entertainments and reassess the role of entertainment in democratic life.
Similar Articles
- Max Smith, Machiavelli's Democratic Civil Religion in the Discourses on Livy , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 48 No. 1 (2024): Essays
- Sarah Gustafson, Opening the American Heart , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 47 No. 2 (2023): The Future Before Us: Early Career Women in Political Theory and Constitutional Studies
- Emily B. Finley, Jefferson's Democratic Idealism , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 46 No. 2 (2022): Jefferson, Paine, Tolstoy, Frankenstein, and more!
- Brianne Wolf, Tocqueville and the Moral Economy of Bankruptcy in Nineteenth-Century America , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 47 No. 2 (2023): The Future Before Us: Early Career Women in Political Theory and Constitutional Studies
- Ronald M Peters, Political Theory, Political Science, and A Preface to Democratic Theory , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 7 (1977): Reviews
- Matthew D. Mendham, A Flawed Moralist? , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 44 No. 2 (2020): Symposium: Leadership and the History of Political Thought
- Nadia Urbinati, About Democracy’s Friends , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 42 No. 1 (2018): Symposium: Philosophy in Weimar Germany
- Michelle Schwarze, Freedom and Dependence in John Adams and the Fear of American Oligarchy , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 42 No. 1 (2018): Symposium: Philosophy in Weimar Germany
- Joel D Wolfe, Varieties of Participatory Democracy and Democratic Theory , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 16 (1986): In Memoriam and Reviews
- Christie Maloyed, Hypocrisy and Democratic Leadership in Benjamin Franklin’s Political Thought , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 44 No. 2 (2020): Symposium: Leadership and the History of Political Thought
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Larry Arnhart, Murray Edelman, Political Symbolism, and the Incoherence of Political Science , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 15 (1985): In Memoriam and Reviews
- Paul Carrese, Bryan-Paul Frost, Murray Bessette, Aurelian Craiutu, Symposium on Aurelian Craiutu's Faces of Moderation: The Art of Balance in an Age of Extremes , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 43 No. 1 (2019): Essays
- Lee Trepanier, The Protestant Revolution in Theology, Law, and Community , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 39 (2010): Symposia on American Constitutionalism and on Religion & Politics
- Julian Scott, The Life and Times of Christopher Dawson , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 41 No. 2 (2017): Symposium: The Life and Work of Christopher Dawson
- Lee Trepanier, Nomos, Nature, and Modernity in Brague’s The Law of God , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 38 (2009): A Symposium on Rémi Brague’s <em>The Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea</em>
- Dale Cannon, Beyond Post-Modernism via Polanyi’s Post-Critical Philosophy , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 37 (2008): Symposium: The Life and Work of Michael Polanyi
- Khalil M Habib, Islam and the Divine Law in The Law of God , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 38 (2009): A Symposium on Rémi Brague’s <em>The Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea</em>
- Adam Tate, Wrestling with the Modern State , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 41 No. 2 (2017): Symposium: The Life and Work of Christopher Dawson
- Mattei Ion Radu, Dawson and Communism , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 41 No. 2 (2017): Symposium: The Life and Work of Christopher Dawson
- Dermot Quinn, Religion and The Conservative Mind , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 35 (2006): Symposia on Edmund Burke and on Russell Kirk’s <em>The Conservative Mind</em>