Abstract

Reconsidering the Siblings attempts to investigate the nature of moral panics by testing The Sibling Society, a work written by a prominent American Literary critic, Robert Bly. In his work Robert Bly suggests that America is in deep crisis and that a return to vertical associations and relationships will help reclaim the positive aspects of the American heritage. In this thesis, I analyze some of the premises used by Bly in his arguments and suggest that America's social problems are not as much the result of moral turpitude but the logical consequences of a courageous experiment in democratic culture. Through an analysis of the American educational system, the media, the family, and the corporate culture, I attempt to show that America's early Puritan roots and the manner in which it broke from its European heritage led to a culture in which "irony" became a vehicle via which Americans tried to deal with the tensions which arose when rapid change and development eclipsed the firm moral positions of early Americans.