What has become of liberalism in the 20th century? What happens to American individuals confronted by the corporation and its forms of social organization? Why does liberalism look less flexible and more rigid, less capable of experimentation than was originally expected?

The surprising answers to these and other troubling questions are traced in this major reinterpretation of contemporary American political thought. Lustig examines the assumptions, the conclusions, and the social implications of the theoretical outlook that has emerged in the U.S. in the 20th century. 'Corporate liberalism' describes the result, a cultural logic that shapes political ideas, institutions, and the society itself.

"Lustig has not only mastered the fundamental tendency of American political theory but has succeeded in placing the ideological and theoretical debates in the context of the development of the U.S. economy as a whole. His breadth and range are impressive.…Could be the best book of American political theory since McConnell's and Lowi's seminal works of the sixties."