The good citizen : a history of American civic life / Michael Schudson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schudson, Michael.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political participation--United States--History.

Political participation.

United States.

History.

Political culture--United States--History.

Political culture.

Citizenship--United States.

Citizenship.

Civics.

Physical Description:

390 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Harvard University paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1999.

Summary:

In 1996, less than half of all eligible voters bothered to vote. Fewer citizens each year follow government and public affairs regularly. Is popular sovereignty a failure? Not necessarily, argues Michael Schudson in this provocative history of citizenship in America. Schudson sees American politics as evolving from a "politics of assent" in colonial times and the eighteenth century, in which voting generally reaffirmed the social hierarchy of the community; to a "politics of affiliation" in the nineteenth century, in which party loyalty was paramount for the good citizen. Progressive reforms around the turn of the century reduced the power of parties and increased the role of education, making way for the "informed citizen, " which remains the ideal in American civic life. Today a fourth model, "the rights-bearing citizen, " supplements the "informed citizen" model and makes the courthouse as well as the voting booth a channel for citizenship. From the Civil Rights movement on, rights-consciousness has thrus politics into everyday life. This upbeat message counters recent claims that American civic life has declined because participation in traditional civically oriented associations has declined.

Contents:

ch. 1. Colonial origins of American political practice: 1690-1787

ch. 2. Constitutional moment: 1787-1801

ch. 3. Democratic transition in American political life: 1801-1865

Entr' acte I: the public world of the Lincoln-Douglas debates

ch. 4. Second transformation of American citizenship: 1865-1920

ch. 5. Cures for democracy? civil religion, leadership, expertise, and more democracy

Entr' acte II: second great debate

ch. 6. Widening the web of citizenship in an age of private citizens.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-369) and index.

Local Notes:

Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Sheldon Hackney.

ISBN:

0674356403

9780674356405

OCLC:

43733715