Rugged Individualism: Dead or Alive?

2017 Charles and Rosemary Licata Lecture

Rugged individualism is a unique component of America's DNA and a key ingredient in what makes America exceptional. At its founding, American individualism was primarily political in nature, protected by the Constitution, and fully compatible with democracy. During the Progressive Era, rugged individualism became about economics. In the past 30 years, the battleground about rugged individualism has come to include the realm of sociology. Throughout our history, American rugged individualism has had its share of ups and downs, wins and losses, since its birth at the founding of our nation and its coming of age on the frontier.

Join us to celebrate our annual Charles and Rosemary Licata Lecture, with "Rugged Individualism:  Dead or Alive?" with Dr. Gordon Lloyd, Senior Fellow at the Ashbrook Center and the Dockson Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. He will discuss his most recent book, coauthored with former Pepperdine president and Distinguished Professor of Public Policy David Davenport, currently a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Lloyd will look at individualism not primarily through the lens of psychology or sociology, but also through a political context. He will analyze the history of American Individualism, from its earliest roots in religion during our colonial period up to the present day, including current debates over individualism versus Obamacare, federal education reform, and income inequality.

Dr. Gordon Lloyd is a Senior Fellow at the Ashbrook Center and the Dockson Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. He is coauthor of three books on the American founding and is editor of James Madison's Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787. He is the coauthor, with David Davenport, of The New Deal and Modern American Conservatism:  A Defining Rivalry and author-collaborator on three books on political economy. He is also the creator of four websites on the creation and ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He is also serves on the National Advisory Council for the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center through the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

The Charles and Rosemary Licata Lecture Series was established through an endowment for the School of Public Policy by benefactors Charles and Rosemary Licata, the Licata Lecture Series unites students, alumni, and community leaders with leading academics and practitioners shaping policy matters in the new century.