The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life

When and why did choice come to be treated as a proxy for freedom, and how has it changed lives in the process? In 18th-century England, novels talked of a new activity: shopping. When shops appeared, they offered wares that enticed but weren’t essential; auction catalogues and restaurant menus offered a profusion of options. Rosenfeld (history, Univ. of Pennsylvania; Democracy and Truth) argues that these changes were rooted in personal and social habits as much as in government action. Before the 18th century, freedom had mostly been seen as freedom from something—an onerous obligation—not freedom to have the opportunity to choose among competing goods. The Reformation highlighted the role of choice in embracing faith. For a few years, the French Revolution even made marriage a civil contract. Like other contracts, if not adhered to, it could be broken, as in a divorce. Across the 19th century, elections were increasingly conducted by ballot; no longer public affirmations but choices made on one’s own. As arenas for choice expanded, so did restrictions to keep choice in bounds, even in such activities as the elaborate etiquette of ballroom dances.