Early Years
MacDonald is of German and Scottish ancestry. He was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family. His father was a policeman and his mother was a secretary. He went to parochial schools and played basketball in high school. He entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison and became an activist in the anti-war movement from about 1965 to 1975. During this period, he perceived the East Coast Jewish origins of the majority of the movement there (Culture of Critique, p. 104), which motivated his interest in Jewish intellectual movements.
MacDonald became a philosophy major and abandoned leftist radicalism. He embarked on a career as a jazz pianist, but by the late 1970s had abandoned it in favour of academia. While in graduate school, he became attracted to E. O. Wilson's theory of sociobiology.
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Famous quotes related to early years:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“Even today . . . experts, usually male, tell women how to be mothers and warn them that they should not have children if they have any intention of leaving their side in their early years. . . . Children don’t need parents’ full-time attendance or attention at any stage of their development. Many people will help take care of their needs, depending on who their parents are and how they chose to fulfill their roles.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)