Civil Society, Associations and Urban Places

Civil Society, Associations and Urban Places PDF Author: Boudien de Vries
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351951106
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
In recent years the concept of 'civil society' has become central to the historian's understanding of class, cultural and political power in the nineteenth-century town and city. Increasingly clubs and voluntary societies have been regarded as an important step in the formation of formal political parties, particularly for the working and middle classes. The result of this is the assertion that the more associations existing in a particular society, the deeper democracy becomes entrenched. In order to test this hypothesis, this volume brings together essays by an international group of urban historians who examine the construction of civil society from associational activity in the urban place. From their studies, it soon becomes clear that such simple propositions do not adequately reflect the dynamics of nineteenth-century urban society and politics. Urban associations were ideological in purpose and deliberately discriminatory and as such set the boundaries of civil society. Thus competing and segmented associations were not only an indication of pluralism and strength, but also highlighted a fundamental weakness when faced down by the interests of the state. Through a wide array of urban associations in a broad range of settings, comprising Austria and Bratislava, France and Italy, the Netherlands, Austro-Hungary, England, Scotland and the US, this volume reflects on the construction of class, nation and culture in the associations of the nineteenth-century urban place. In so doing it shows that a deep and interlocking civil society does not automatically lead to a rise in democratic activity. Expansion of the networks of urban association could equally result in greater subdivision and to the fragmentation and isolation of certain groups. Partition as much as coherence is our understanding of civil society and associations in the nineteenth-century urban place.

Civil Society, Associations and Urban Places

Civil Society, Associations and Urban Places PDF Author: Boudien de Vries
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351951106
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
In recent years the concept of 'civil society' has become central to the historian's understanding of class, cultural and political power in the nineteenth-century town and city. Increasingly clubs and voluntary societies have been regarded as an important step in the formation of formal political parties, particularly for the working and middle classes. The result of this is the assertion that the more associations existing in a particular society, the deeper democracy becomes entrenched. In order to test this hypothesis, this volume brings together essays by an international group of urban historians who examine the construction of civil society from associational activity in the urban place. From their studies, it soon becomes clear that such simple propositions do not adequately reflect the dynamics of nineteenth-century urban society and politics. Urban associations were ideological in purpose and deliberately discriminatory and as such set the boundaries of civil society. Thus competing and segmented associations were not only an indication of pluralism and strength, but also highlighted a fundamental weakness when faced down by the interests of the state. Through a wide array of urban associations in a broad range of settings, comprising Austria and Bratislava, France and Italy, the Netherlands, Austro-Hungary, England, Scotland and the US, this volume reflects on the construction of class, nation and culture in the associations of the nineteenth-century urban place. In so doing it shows that a deep and interlocking civil society does not automatically lead to a rise in democratic activity. Expansion of the networks of urban association could equally result in greater subdivision and to the fragmentation and isolation of certain groups. Partition as much as coherence is our understanding of civil society and associations in the nineteenth-century urban place.

The Voluntary City

The Voluntary City PDF Author: David T Beito
Publisher: Independent Institute
ISBN: 1598132326
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 658

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Book Description
Assembling a rich history and analysis of large-scale, private and voluntary, community-based provision of social services, urban infrastructure, and community governance, this book provides suggestions on how to restore the vitality of city life. Historically, the city was considered a center of commerce, knowledge, and culture, a haven for safety and a place of opportunity. Today, however, cities are widely viewed as centers for crime, homelessness, drug wars, business failure, impoverishment, transit gridlock, illiteracy, pollution, unemployment, and other social ills. In many cities, government increasingly dominates life, consuming vast resources to cater to special-interest groups. This book reveals how the process of providing local public goods through the dynamism of freely competitive, market-based entrepreneurship is unmatched in renewing communities and strengthening the bonds of civil society.

The Voluntary City

The Voluntary City PDF Author: David T. Beito
Publisher: Academic Foundation
ISBN: 9788171885725
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description


Associational Life in African Cities

Associational Life in African Cities PDF Author: Arne Tostensen
Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 9789171064653
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
The book contains 17 chapters with material from 13 African countries, from Egypt to Swaziland and from Senegal to Kenya. Most of the authors are young African academics. The focus of the volume is the multitude of voluntary associations that has emerged in African cities in recent years. In many cases, they are a response to mounting poverty, failing infrastructure and services, and more generally, weak or abdicating urban governments. Some associations are new, in other cases, existing organizations are taking on new tasks. Associations may be neighbourhood-based, others may be city-wide and based on professional groupings or a shared ideology or religion. Still others have an ethnic base. Some of these organizations are engaged in both day-to-day matters of urban management and more long-term urban development. Urban associations challenge the monopoly of local and central government institutions.

Organizing Civil Society

Organizing Civil Society PDF Author: Philip D. Oxhorn
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271043423
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description


Planting Empire, Cultivating Subjects

Planting Empire, Cultivating Subjects PDF Author: Lynn Hollen Lees
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107038405
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
This is an innovative study of how British Colonial rule and society in Malayan towns and plantations transformed immigrants into British subjects.

Multilevel Democracy

Multilevel Democracy PDF Author: Jefferey M. Sellers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108427782
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
Explores ways to make democracy work better, with particular focus on the integral role of local institutions.

Community Analysis and Practice

Community Analysis and Practice PDF Author: Josefina Figueira-McDonough
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134942060
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Concentrating on three main themes - environmental complexity, community as the target of intervention, and commitment to social justice - Community Theory and Practice updates and expands the current boundaries of thinking about community organization. This book is an important resource for social work students, educators, and practitioners, as well as those who work in the areas of sociology, urban studies, community organization and development, and criminology, and other areas of social study and policy.

Urban Social Capital

Urban Social Capital PDF Author: Gregory W. Streich
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131700342X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
This volume presents a kaleidoscopic view of the norms and forms of contemporary city life, focusing especially on the processes of social capital (de)formation in the urban milieu. It brings together studies from highly diverse urban settings, such as squatter re-settlement projects in Kathmandu, urban funeral societies in Africa, an HIV/AIDS community in Los Angeles, the poor of Harare, pensioners in Shanghai, Maori gangs in Auckland, and a Roma boxing club in Prague, among others. Contributors draw on contemporary theory and research in social capital, political economy, urban planning and policy, social movements, civil society and democracy to explore how social norms, networks, connections and ties are created, deployed - and often frayed - under conditions of social complexity, inequality, cultural pluralism, and the ethno-racial diversity and division characteristic of urban contexts throughout the world. In this way, the volume engages in a genuinely globalized - and globalizing - discussion of contemporary urban social life and stands as a unique and timely interdisciplinary contribution to the ever-expanding literature devoted to social capital.

Remaking Urban Citizenship

Remaking Urban Citizenship PDF Author: Michael Peter Smith
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 1412846188
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Includes bibliographical references and index.