Membership and Morals: The Personal Uses of Pluralism in America

The Constitutional guarantee of free association has received disappointingly little attention from the academic world. This book and Amy Gutmann's "Freedom of Association" remain the only serious academic works devoted to this fascinating issue. Of the two Gutmann's book is superior, but one is better off reading both books if one wishes to have any meaningful understanding of this issue. Whereas Gutmann's book prefers to grapple with the difficulties and dangers inherent in this much-cherished freedom, "Membership and Morals" deals more directly with the nature of association and the various forms it takes. Rather than survey various issues related to association, Rosenblum writes a unitary work which argues that freedom of association is a necessary and valuable part of society. Though at times she overstates her case and makes association out to be a panacea for nearly everything which ails society, her book is nonetheless not to be taken lightly. She offers many important insights into the ways in which association influences society, and presents a strong case for taking freedom of association more seriously. One should find this book usually convincing and always engaging and well-articulated.