Etzioni's Communitarianism: Old (Communion) Wine in New Bottles

The renewed interest in civic duty, morals, and family values in British politics owes much to the publicity accorded to Etzioni's communitarian ideas. His political philosophy has not however received much critical scrutiny outside the media and there is little consensus on where to locate his ideas in relation to other traditions of political thought. This paper suggests that Etzioni's particular variant of communitarianism exhibits striking parallels with Catholic social teaching and corresponds to the moral and ideological principles that underpin Christian Democracy. Consequently, some of the short-comings of Catholic social teaching are replicated by Etzioni.