Myths and Politics in Western Societies ― Evaluating the Crisis of Modernity in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain

To understand the modern world, emotional factors, often revealed in myths, must be taken into account. In this sense, it is not only the rational organization and calculation of capitalism that are important, according to Girling, but also the psychological motivations that capitalism draws on, notably acquisitiveness, rivalry, and selfishness. It is Girling's thesis that myths - emotionally charged beliefs - are among the significant ways in which people experience such formative periods in their history as the ascendancy of capitalism (considered in the study of America), the ominous stirrings of nationalism (in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Germany) and the economic and political developments evoking a belief in "progress" (Victorian Britain, and its aftermath).
Myths, accordingly, are to be interpreted in context: and they may take on optimistic or pessimistic forms. In America, for example, "manifest destiny" expressed belief in a mission to transform the continent. In Germany, to the contrary, defeat in the First World War followed by devastating economic crises culminated in a virulent type of nationalism combined with the dread of racial "contamination." Britain, in turn, experienced yet another outcome: from optimistic belief in continuing peace and prosperity - "progress" - to awareness of insecurity, disunity, and economic decline, engendering new and apocalyptic myths. Britain's experience reveals the historical alternation between periods of calm and stability, conducive to the use of reason, and periods of turbulence and change, evoking myths.
The inspirational character of myths is most evident in turbulent times. They enable people to come to terms with powerful economic and political forces. Girling shows that emotionally charged beliefs, often expressed in political myths, continue to play a powerful role in contemporary society. Myths and Politics in Western Society will be of interest to historians, political psychologists, sociologists, economists, and scholars of American, German, and British studies. The new concern with irrationality in leadership is given full play in this work.

John Girling is professor of international relations, attached to The Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University of Canberra.