Civil Society, Democracy, and Civic Renewal

by Fullinwider, Robert K.; Barber, Benjamin R.; Cohen, Jean L.; Crocker, David A.; Harris, Fredrick C.; Li, Xiaorong; Lichtenberg, Judith; Lomasky, Loren E.; McCarthy, Kathleen D.; Rosenblum, Nancy L.; Sagoff, Mark; Schambra, William A.; Sklar, Kathryn Kish;

• ISBN13: 9780847693566
• ISBN10: 0847693562
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-05-13
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

Civil society is receiving renewed attention from academics, politicians, journalists, community leaders, and participants in the voluntary sector. Civil Society, Democracy, and Civic Renewal brings together several of AmericaOs leading scholars_of history, sociology, political science, and philosophy_to explore the meaning of civil society, its positive and negative effects, its relation to government, and its contribution to democracy. The chapters range widely, taking up the connection between social trust and civic renewal, the role of citizen councils in environmental decisionmaking, the growth of self-help groups and their impact on community, historical patterns of civic activity by women and African Americans, and the place of expertise in public deliberation on scientific and medical issues. By examining the many disparate views of the civil society debate, this important volume will contribute to the process of civic renewal.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction	p. 1
Civil Society: Idea and Actuality
Clansmen, Consumers, and Citizens: Three Takes on Civil Society	p. 9
Making Civil Society Work: Democracy as a Problem of Civic Cooperation	p. 31
American Civil Society Talk	p. 55
Government and Civil Society
Is There Civic Life beyond the Great National Community?	p. 89
Civic Infrastructure in America: The Interrelationship between Government and the Voluntary Sector	p. 127
The View from Quincy Library: Civic Engagement in Environmental Problem Solving	p. 151
A Historical Model of Women's Voluntarism and the State, 1890-1920	p. 185
Trust and Civic Virtue
The Role of Trust in Civic Renewal	p. 209
Self-Help Groups, Community, and Civil Society	p. 231
The Moral Uses of Pluralism	p. 255
Civil Enough: Toward a Liberal Theory of Vice (and Virtue)	p. 273
Religion and Race
Religion, Philanthropy, and Political Culture	p. 297
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? The Erosion and Transformation of African-American Civic Life	p. 317
Public Deliberation
Beyond the Public Journalism Controversy	p. 341
The Changing Role of Expertise in Public Deliberation	p. 355
International Civil Society
Civil Society and Transitional Justice	p. 375
Democracy and Uncivil Societies: A Critique of Civil Society Determinism	p. 403
Index	p. 421
About the Editor and Contributors	p. 431
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