A Crisis of Civility?

A Crisis of Civility? PDF Author: Robert G. Boatright
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351051962
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book Here

Book Description
The state of political discourse in the United States today has been a subject of concern for many Americans. Political incivility is not merely a problem for political elites; political conversations between American citizens have also become more difficult and tense. The 2016 presidential elections featured campaign rhetoric designed to inflame the general public. Yet the 2016 election was certainly not the only cause of incivility among citizens. There have been many instances in recent years where reasoned discourse in our universities and other public venues has been threatened. This book was undertaken as a response to these problems. It presents and develops a more robust discussion of what civility is, why it matters, what factors might contribute to it, and what its consequences are for democratic life. The authors included here pursue three major questions: Is the state of American political discourse today really that bad, compared to prior eras; what lessons about civility can we draw from the 2016 election; and how have changes in technology such as the development of online news and other means of mediated communication changed the nature of our discourse? This book seeks to develop a coherent, civil conversation between divergent contemporary perspectives in political science, communications, history, sociology, and philosophy. This multidisciplinary approach helps to reflect on challenges to civil discourse, define civility, and identify its consequences for democratic life in a digital age. In this accessible text, an all-star cast of contributors tills the earth in which future discussion on civility will be planted.

A Crisis of Civility?

A Crisis of Civility? PDF Author: Robert G. Boatright
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351051962
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book Here

Book Description
The state of political discourse in the United States today has been a subject of concern for many Americans. Political incivility is not merely a problem for political elites; political conversations between American citizens have also become more difficult and tense. The 2016 presidential elections featured campaign rhetoric designed to inflame the general public. Yet the 2016 election was certainly not the only cause of incivility among citizens. There have been many instances in recent years where reasoned discourse in our universities and other public venues has been threatened. This book was undertaken as a response to these problems. It presents and develops a more robust discussion of what civility is, why it matters, what factors might contribute to it, and what its consequences are for democratic life. The authors included here pursue three major questions: Is the state of American political discourse today really that bad, compared to prior eras; what lessons about civility can we draw from the 2016 election; and how have changes in technology such as the development of online news and other means of mediated communication changed the nature of our discourse? This book seeks to develop a coherent, civil conversation between divergent contemporary perspectives in political science, communications, history, sociology, and philosophy. This multidisciplinary approach helps to reflect on challenges to civil discourse, define civility, and identify its consequences for democratic life in a digital age. In this accessible text, an all-star cast of contributors tills the earth in which future discussion on civility will be planted.

Civility and Its Discontents

Civility and Its Discontents PDF Author: Christine T. Sistare
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
Contributors from philosophy and political science discuss the observation that civility, civic virtue, tolerance, and socio-cultural unity have declined while exploring the nature of civil society, the conflict between individual liberty and the common good, and the role of law and government policy in weaving the threads of the social fabric. From publisher description.

In Pursuit of Civility

In Pursuit of Civility PDF Author: Keith Thomas
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
ISBN: 1512602825
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 378

Get Book Here

Book Description
Keith Thomas's earlier studies in the ethnography of early modern England, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Man and the Natural World, and The Ends of Life, were all attempts to explore beliefs, values, and social practices in the centuries from 1500 to 1800. In Pursuit of Civility continues this quest by examining what English people thought it meant to be "civilized" and how that condition differed from being "barbarous" or "savage." Thomas shows that the upper ranks of society sought to distinguish themselves from their social inferiors by distinctive ways of moving, speaking, and comporting themselves, and that the common people developed their own form of civility. The belief of the English in their superior civility shaped their relations with the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish, and was fundamental to their dealings with the native peoples of North America, India, and Australia. Yet not everyone shared this belief in the superiority of Western civilization; the book sheds light on the origins of both anticolonialism and cultural relativism. Thomas has written an accessible history based on wide reading, abounding in fresh insights, and illustrated by many striking quotations and anecdotes from contemporary sources.

Civility and Subversion

Civility and Subversion PDF Author: Jeffrey C. Goldfarb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521627238
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description
This 1998 book provides a sophisticated alternative to existing accounts of the role of the intellectual in modern democracy. Arguing that society suffers from a systemic deliberation deficit, Jeffrey Goldfarb explores the potential of the intellectual as democratic agent, at once civilizing political contestation and subverting complacent consensus. The sentimental Leftist view of the intellectual as guardian of democracy and the demonising Rightist view of the intellectual as obstructor of progress, are both shown to be flawed. Instead, intellectuals are portrayed as special kinds of 'strangers' who pay careful attention to their critical faculties, equipping them uniquely to address the most pressing issues of today. Professor Goldfarb deploys classical and contemporary social theory to analyse a diverse set of intellectuals in action, from Socrates in fifth-century Athens to Malcolm X and Toni Morrison in twentieth-century America, and, drawing on personal acquaintance, the political dissidents in Communist and post-Communist Central Europe.

Modernity and Its Discontents

Modernity and Its Discontents PDF Author: Steven B. Smith
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300220987
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 417

Get Book Here

Book Description
Steven B. Smith examines the concept of modernity, not as the end product of historical developments but as a state of mind. He explores modernism as a source of both pride and anxiety, suggesting that its most distinctive characteristics are the self-criticisms and doubts that accompany social and political progress. Providing profiles of the modern project’s most powerful defenders and critics—from Machiavelli and Spinoza to Saul Bellow and Isaiah Berlin—this provocative work of philosophy and political science offers a novel perspective on what it means to be modern and why discontent and sometimes radical rejection are its inevitable by-products.

Understanding Everyday Incivility

Understanding Everyday Incivility PDF Author: Shelley D. Lane
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442261862
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
Understanding Everyday Incivility delves into the day-to-day annoying behaviors that color our interactions with other people, such as the use of crude language in public, family members who claim that they’re “just teasing” and we’re “too sensitive,” coworkers who constantly interrupt us, and inflammatory remarks posted on social media sites. Shelley D. Lane explores what is considered uncivil behavior, why we label some acts as crude or selfish while others are deemed polite and proper, and how these labels often change from one context to the next. She highlights the power dynamics at play in our interactions and explains how “rude” behavior can sometimes be beneficial—and “polite” behavior can be detrimental. Rather than a simplistic manual of manners, Lane provides the tools to understand everyday incivility and strategies for responding effectively and appropriately.

Toward a Concrete Philosophy

Toward a Concrete Philosophy PDF Author: Mikko Immanen
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501752383
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Get Book Here

Book Description
Toward a Concrete Philosophy explores the reactions of Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse to Martin Heidegger prior to their dismissal of him once he turned to the Nazi party in 1933. Mikko Immanen provides a fascinating glimpse of the three future giants of twentieth-century social criticism when they were still looking for their philosophical voices. By reconstructing their overlooked debates with Heidegger and Heideggerians, Immanen argues that Adorno, Horkheimer, and Marcuse saw Heidegger's 1927 magnum opus, Being and Time, as a serious effort to make philosophy relevant for life again and as the most provocative challenge to their nascent materialist diagnoses of the discontents of European modernity. Our knowledge of Adorno's "Frankfurt discussion" with "Frankfurt Heideggerians" remains anecdotal, even though it led to a proto-version of Dialectic of Enlightenment's idea of the entwinement of myth and reason. Similarly, Horkheimer's enthusiasm over Heidegger's legendary post–World War I lectures and criticism of Being and Time have escaped attention almost entirely. And Marcuse's intriguing debate with Heidegger over Hegel and the origin of the problematic of "being and time" has remained uncharted until now. Reading these debates as fruitful intellectual encounters rather than hostile confrontations, Toward a Concrete Philosophy offers scholars of critical theory a new, thought-provoking perspective on the emergence of the Frankfurt School as a rejoinder to Heidegger's philosophical revolution.

Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History

Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History PDF Author: Lawrence J. Friedman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521819893
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 488

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents professional historians addressing the dominant issues and theories offered to explain the history of American philanthropy and its role in American society. The essays develop and enlighten the major themes proposed by the books' editors, oftentimes taking issue with each other in the process. The overarching premise is that philanthropic activity in America has its roots in the desires of individuals to impose their visions of societal ideals or conceptions of truth upon their society. To do so, they have organized in groups, frequently defining themselves and their group's role in society in the process.

Verbal Hygiene

Verbal Hygiene PDF Author: Deborah Cameron
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134960646
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, Cameron explores popular attitudes towards language and examines the practices by which people attempt to regulate its use. She also argues that popular discourse about language values serves a function for those engaged in it.

American Liturgy

American Liturgy PDF Author: James Calvin Davis
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 172527132X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 183

Get Book Here

Book Description
How can celebrating the "holy days" of American culture help us to understand what it means to be both Christian and American? In timely essays on Super Bowl Sunday, Mother's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and other holidays of the secular calendar, James Calvin Davis explores the wisdom that Christian tradition brings to our sense of American identity, as well as the ways in which American culture might prompt us to discern the imperatives of faith in new ways. Rather than demonizing culture or naively baptizing it, Davis models a bidirectional mode of reflection, where faith convictions and cultural values converse with and critique one another. Focusing on topics like politics, race, parenting, music, and sports, these essays remind us that culture is as much human accomplishment and gift as it is a challenge to Christian values, and there is insight to be discovered in a theologically astute investment in America's "holy days."