Political Theory, Political Science and the End of Civic Engagement

Bibliographic Data

ID6325115
AuthorsBen Berger (0000-0002-9115-6160, Swarthmore College, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume7
Issue2
Pages335-350
Publication date2009-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s153759270909080x
OpenAlexW2148824213
LanguageEN
Citations received93
References cited51

Within a span of fifteen years civic engagement has become a cottage industry in political science and political theory, but the term has now outlived its usefulness and exemplifies Giovanni Sartori's worry about conceptual “stretching.” This article traces civic engagement's ascension as a catch-all term for almost anything that citizens might happen to do together or alone, and illustrates the confusion that its popularity has occasioned. It proposes that civic engagement meet a well-deserved end, to be replaced with a more nuanced and descriptive set of engagements: political, social, and moral. It also examines the appeal ofengagementitself, a term that entails both attention and energy. Attention and energy are the mainsprings of politics and most other challenging human endeavors. But they can be invested politically, or in associative pursuits, or in moral reasoning and follow-through, and those types of engagement can, but need not, coincide. We should be asking whichkindsof engagement—which kinds of attention and energetic activity—make democracy work, and how they might be measured and promoted

Appeal · Civic engagement · Democracy · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Social science · Sociology · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks · Social Media and Politics

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub