Top-Down Civic Projects Are Not Grassroots Associations

How The Differences Matter in Everyday Life

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12249335
AutoresNina Eliasoph (autor correspondente)
Ano2009
Volume20
Fascículo3
Páginas291-308
Data de publicação2009-07-15
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoVoluntas Revista Internacional de Filosofia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2179-3786 • E-ISSN: 1573-7888
EditoraSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s11266-009-9087-y
OpenAlexW2059530143
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas37
Referências citadas28

Research on civic associations blurs an important distinction between the unfunded, informal, ongoing associations that theorists like de Tocqueville described versus current participatory democracy projects that are funded by the state and large nongovernmental organizations, are open to all, and are usually short-term. Based on a long-term ethnography of youth programs in the United States, this paper shows that entities like these, which participants and researchers alike often called “volunteer” or “civic” groups, operate very differently from traditional civic groups. The ethnography systematically details prevalent tensions that actors face when they try to cultivate the civic spirit in these increasingly typical organizations

Everyday life · Grassroots · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Service-Learning and Community Engagement · Social Media and Politics