Sophia Rosenfeld
Writing a book is a long process, and you never know what political landscape it will land in. It’s important not to write something that only echoes a specific moment, since the life cycle of books and politics are often disconnected.
The book explores how we — particularly in the US, but also much of the modern world — came to view freedom as the ability to choose from various options, whether in consumer culture or in democratic and human rights discourse. We’ve come to associate freedom with selecting people to love, ideas to hold, political platforms to support, or products to buy. We imagine that having and making choices is a source of both personal fulfillment and public recognition of ourselves as autonomous individuals. I had two main questions: How did this concept of freedom develop, and what are its pros and cons? It’s clear that freedom and choice are not timeless ideas; they’ve evolved. I wanted to explore how this view of freedom emerged and its impact on our lives.
I started the project before [Donald] Trump’s presidency, during the late [Barack] Obama years, and believed that the political trajectory at the time would likely continue. Clearly, the situation changed. During the first years of Trump’s administration, I paused work on this book to write Democracy and Truth: A Short History, which addressed the political polarization and conflicts around truth that became more pronounced during Trump’s tenure. That book, which focused on the divide between technocracy and populism, ended up resonating with subsequent developments, especially around issues like misinformation.
When I returned to The Age of Choice, I had a different perspective, shaped by the political shifts under both Trump and [Joe] Biden. The concept of choice was mobilized differently by both administrations, from reproductive choice…
Auteur: Sophia Rosenfeld
