Who Killed Civil Society?

Who Killed Civil Society? PDF Author: Howard A. Husock
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1641770597
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Billions of American tax dollars go into a vast array of programs targeting various social issues: the opioid epidemic, criminal violence, chronic unemployment, and so on. Yet the problems persist and even grow. Howard Husock argues that we have lost sight of a more powerful strategy—a preventive strategy, based on positive social norms. In the past, individuals and institutions of civil society actively promoted what may be called “bourgeois norms,” to nurture healthy habits so that social problems wouldn’t emerge in the first place. It was a formative effort. Today, a massive social service state instead takes a reformative approach to problems that have already become vexing. It offers counseling along with material support, but struggling communities have been more harmed than helped by government’s embrace. And social service agencies have a vested interest in the continuance of problems. Government can provide a financial safety net for citizens, but it cannot effectively create or promote healthy norms. Nor should it try. That formative work is best done by civil society. This book focuses on six key figures in the history of social welfare to illuminate how a norm-promoting culture was built, then lost, and how it can be revived. We read about Charles Loring Brace, founder of the Children’s Aid Society; Jane Addams, founder of Hull House; Mary Richmond, a social work pioneer; Grace Abbott of the federal Children’s Bureau; Wilbur Cohen of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; and Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone—a model for bringing real benefit to a poor community through positive social norms. We need more like it.

Who Killed Civil Society?

Who Killed Civil Society? PDF Author: Howard A. Husock
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1641770597
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Get Book Here

Book Description
Billions of American tax dollars go into a vast array of programs targeting various social issues: the opioid epidemic, criminal violence, chronic unemployment, and so on. Yet the problems persist and even grow. Howard Husock argues that we have lost sight of a more powerful strategy—a preventive strategy, based on positive social norms. In the past, individuals and institutions of civil society actively promoted what may be called “bourgeois norms,” to nurture healthy habits so that social problems wouldn’t emerge in the first place. It was a formative effort. Today, a massive social service state instead takes a reformative approach to problems that have already become vexing. It offers counseling along with material support, but struggling communities have been more harmed than helped by government’s embrace. And social service agencies have a vested interest in the continuance of problems. Government can provide a financial safety net for citizens, but it cannot effectively create or promote healthy norms. Nor should it try. That formative work is best done by civil society. This book focuses on six key figures in the history of social welfare to illuminate how a norm-promoting culture was built, then lost, and how it can be revived. We read about Charles Loring Brace, founder of the Children’s Aid Society; Jane Addams, founder of Hull House; Mary Richmond, a social work pioneer; Grace Abbott of the federal Children’s Bureau; Wilbur Cohen of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; and Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone—a model for bringing real benefit to a poor community through positive social norms. We need more like it.

Philanthropy Under Fire

Philanthropy Under Fire PDF Author: Howard Husock
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1594037396
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
In Philanthropy Under Fire, author Howard Husock defends the American tradition of independent philanthropy from significant political and intellectual challenges which threaten it today. Although the U.S. continues to be the most charitable nation in the world, serious efforts seek to discourage traditional, personal charitable giving by changing the tax code, and directing philanthropy toward causes chosen by government. Some voices seek to narrow the very definition of philanthropy to include only direct redistribution of income from rich to poor. In contrast, Mr. Husock broadly defends philanthropy’s causes—from the food pantry to the art museum to the university science lab—as both a source of effective new ideas and as a core aspect of democracy and liberty. In a new and original argument, he asserts that having broad impact does not require a marriage of philanthropy and government. Instead, he says, private programs growing out of the values held by their leaders—and imbued with those values—can have a wide impact through their influence on society’s norms. In this sense, the good that private philanthropy does for American society can far transcend the good that it does for its immediate recipients.

An Essay on the History of Civil Society

An Essay on the History of Civil Society PDF Author: Adam Ferguson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description


A World for All?

A World for All? PDF Author: William F. Storrar
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 080282742X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
This distinctive volume on global civil society brings together voices from politics, philosophy, Christian ethics, and theology seeking to foster an inclusive worldwide social vision.

Civil Society in China

Civil Society in China PDF Author: Timothy Brook
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317474384
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The concept of civil society was borrowed from 18th-century Europe to provide a framework for understanding the transition to post-authoritarian regimes in Latin America and post-communist regimes elsewhere. This book asks whether this concept is useful for analyzing China.

Cognitive Capitalism

Cognitive Capitalism PDF Author: Yann Moulier-Boutang
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745647324
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This book argues that we are undergoing a transition from industrial capitalism to a new form of capitalism - what the author calls & lsquo; cognitive capitalism & rsquo;

The Age of Rights

The Age of Rights PDF Author: Norberto Bobbio
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509526137
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
This book presents a valuable clarification and defence of human rights by Italy's leading political theorist.

Herman Dooyeweerd

Herman Dooyeweerd PDF Author: Jonathan Chaplin
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN: 0268077126
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
The twentieth-century Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd (1894–1977) left behind an impressive canon of philosophical works and has continued to influence a scholarly community in Europe and North America, which has extended, critiqued, and applied his thought in many academic fields. Jonathan Chaplin introduces Dooyeweerd for the first time to many English readers by critically expounding Dooyeweerd’s social and political thought and by exhibiting its pertinence to contemporary civil society debates. Chaplin begins by contextualizing Dooyeweerd’s thought, first in relation to present-day debates and then in relation to the work of the Dutch philosopher Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920). Chaplin outlines the distinctive theory of historical and cultural development that serves as an essential backdrop to Dooyeweerd’s substantive social philosophy; examines Dooyeweerd’s notion of societal structural principles; and sets forth his complex classification of particular types of social structure and their various interrelationships. Chaplin provides a detailed examination of Dooyeweerd’s theory of the state, its definitive nature, and its proper role vis-à-vis other elements of society. Dooyeweerd’s contributions, Chaplin concludes, assist us in mapping the ways in which state and civil society should be related to achieve justice and the public good.

The Politics of Compassion

The Politics of Compassion PDF Author: Bin Xu (Sociology professor)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781503603363
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake killed 87,000 people and left 5 million homeless. In response to the devastation, an unprecedented wave of volunteers and civic associations streamed into Sichuan to offer help. The Politics of Compassion examines how civically engaged citizens acted on the ground and how they understood the meaning of their actions. Using extensive data from interviews, observations, and textual materials. Bin Xu shows that the large-scale civic engagement was not just a natural outpouring of compassion, but also a complex social process shaped by the authoritarian political context. While volunteers expressed their sympathy toward the affected people's suffering, many avoided explicitly talking about the causes of suffering-particularly regarding the collapse of numerous schools. Xu explains this silence as a general inability to discuss politically sensitive issues while living in a repressive state. This book is a powerful account of how the catastrophic ramifications of the earthquake throw into sharp relief the moral-political dilemma faced by citizens in contemporary China. Book jacket.

Human Rights for the 21st Century

Human Rights for the 21st Century PDF Author: Helen M. Stacy
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804771022
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
A new moral, ethical, and legal framework is needed for international human rights law. Never in human history has there been such an elaborate international system for human rights, yet from massive disasters, such as the Darfur genocide, to everyday tragedies, such as female genital mutilation, human rights abuses continue at an alarming rate. As the world population increases and global trade brings new wealth as well as new problems, international law can and should respond better to those who live in fear of violence, neglect, or harm. Modern critiques global human rights fall into three categories: sovereignty, culture, and civil society. These are not new problems, but have long been debated as part of the legal philosophical tradition. Taking lessons from tradition and recasting them in contemporary light, Helen Stacy proposes new approaches to fill the gaps in current approaches: relational sovereignty, reciprocal adjudication, and regional human rights. She forcefully argues that law and courts must play a vital role in forging a better human rights vision in the future.