| Rebuilding Civil Society A Symposium from: The New Democrat, volume 7, number 2 March/April 1995. Publisher: Al From. Editor-in-Chief: Chuck Alston. Editor:Tom Mirga.
Published six times a year by the Democratic Leadership Council
518 C Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. Phone: 202-546-0007.
The Progressive Policy Institute is a project of the DLC, and Will Marshall, its president, is one of the founders of the American Civic Forum, and helped fashion the Civic Declaration: A Call to a New Citizenship. Index Introduction
The New Citizenship by Will Marshall.
The Search for Civil Society by Benjamin Barber.
Up From the Ashes by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Power to the People by Sara Jackson-Han.
The Good Work by Harry Boyte and Nancy Kari.
Are You Being Served? by Ed Kilgore.
More information Introduction Writing in the January issue of the Journal of Democracy, Robert Putnam documented the sad state of our civic bonds in the pithily titled article, "Bowling Alone." The article drew its title from the following fact: - The number of bowlers in America rose by 10 percent between 1980 and 1993. The number of people who belong to bowling leagues, however, dropped by nearly 40 percent during the same period.
- This off-beat indicator of Americans' slow withdrawal from society at large is bad news for bowling-lane proprietors, Putnam writes, because league bowlers "consume three times as much beer and pizza as solo bowlers." But the broader point, he continues, is that it is further evidence that our social capital is dwindling. The empirical evidence for his conclusion is startling:
- Voter turnout in national elections declined by nearly one- quarter between the mid-1960s and 1990.
- The number of people who say they have "attended a public meeting on town or school affairs" within the past year declined from 22 percent in 1973 to 13 percent in 1993.
- Though we're considered a highly "churched" society, "net participation by Americans, both in religious services and church-related groups," has declined by nearly one-sixth since the 1960s.
- Parent participation in parent-teacher organizations has declined by more than 40 percent since 1964.
- Since 1970, participation in the Boy Scouts has dropped by one fourth and in the Red Cross by nearly two thirds.
These trends should alarm anyone who cares about America's future. For the less we participate in society at large, the more tenuous our bonds- indeed, the more tenuous our democracy. To withdraw from civic life is to cede control of our lives to the state and the marketplace. It wasn't always so, of course. As Alexis de Tocqueville noted in Democracy in America, Americans were the original joiners; a robust civil society was a distinguishing feature of American life. In the package of cover stories that begins on page 10, we explore the decline and what we hope is the rebirth of civil society. And we're pleased to tell you that, along with Putnam, four of the authors in this month's magazine-Benjamin R. Barber, Will Marshall, Harry C. Boyte, and Al From-were among those President Clinton summoned to Camp David to discuss this and related topics in preparation for his State of the Union Address. Boyte, Marshall, and Barber also coordinated the Civic Declaration: A Call for a New Citizenship a project of the American Civic Forum issued as a Kettering Foundation paper. Copies are available from the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, Humphrey Institute, 301 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn. 55455. New Democrats belong in the forefront of this nascent movement, for the notion of citizenship is central to our view of the relationship between government and citizens; our opportunities are paid for with responsibility, for ourselves and our community. Citizen. It's an old word that's due for a comeback. More Information Democratic Leadership Council
518 C Street N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002
Phone: 202-546-0007; fax: 202-544-5002. The Progressive Policy Institute is a project of the DLC.
Phone 202-547-0001;fax: 202-544-5014. Chuck Alston is Editor-in-Chief of The New Democrat, and can also be reached by e-mail: calston@dlcppi.org
Tom Mirga, editor: tmirga@dlcppi.org Subscription to The New Democrat is $18/year. Unconventional Wisdom: A Catalogue of Publications of the DLC and PPI (21 pages) is available upon request. Index Introduction
The New Citizenship by Will Marshall.
The Search for Civil Society by Benjamin Barber.
Up From the Ashes by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Power to the People by Sara Jackson-Han.
The Good Work by Harry Boyte and Nancy Kari.
Are You Being Served? by Ed Kilgore.
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