ABSTRACT
To the relatively objective observer, whether American or foreign, it seems clear that the complex of phenomena that have come to be known as "McCarthyism" must be symptoms of a process in American society of some deep and general significance. Some interpret it simply as political reaction, even as a kind of neo–fascism. Some think of it as simply a manifestation of nationalism. The chapter proposes to bring to bear some theoretical perspectives of sociology in an attempt to work out an interpretation which goes beyond catchwords of this order. Politically the most important fact about American industrialism is that it has developed overwhelmingly under the aegis of free enterprise. As the process of industrialization has developed in America there has been a steady increase in the amount of public control imposed on the economy, with the initiative mainly in the hands of the Federal government.
