On the record
The right of suffrage represented for the mass a release of hitherto dormant capacity and also, in appearance at least, a power to shape social relations on the basis of individual volition.
Said by
John Dewey
Source
gutenberg.orgJohn Dewey: “The right of suffrage represented for the mass a release of hitherto dormant capacity and also, in appearance at least…”
Editor's note · Context
Dewey reflects on how the right to vote empowers individuals and shapes social relations.
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More from John Dewey
The easiest way out was to go back to the naked individual, to sweep away all associations as foreign to his nature and rights save as they proceeded from his own voluntary choice, and guaranteed his own private ends.
In this distinction we find the germ of the distinction between the private and the public.
For the older symbols of ideal life still engage thought and command loyalty.
They are made that way; it is “the nature of the beast.” We do not gain anything by inserting instincts to run, creep, swim and fly between the structure and the act.