Robert Putnam's social capital thesis re-examined from the perspective of women and cultural minorities.
Diverse Communities is a critique of Robert Putnam's social capital thesis, re-examined from the perspective of women and cultural minorities in America over the last century. Barbara Arneil argues that the idyllic communities of the past were less positive than Putnam envisions and that the current 'collapse' in participation is better understood as change rather than decline. Arneil suggests that the changes in American civil society in the last half century are not so much the result of generational change or television as the unleashing of powerful economic, social and cultural forces that, despite leading to division and distrust within American society, also contributed to greater justice for women and cultural minorities. She concludes by proposing that the lessons learned from this fuller history of American civil society provide the normative foundation to enumerate the principles of justice by which diverse communities might be governed in the twenty-first century.
Review quote:
"For Arneil, social capital is not neutral, nor does it have only positive outcomes. Like other social capital theorists, such as Pierre Bourdieu, she sees it as another means for the powerful to protect their interests....Arneil's much more complex and exacting challenge to us in Diverse Communities is to build a just society in which everyone truly belongs and everyone can fully participate and flourish."
Tim Broadhead, Literary Review of Canada
Table of contents:
1. Social capital, justice and diversity: an introduction; 2. The progressive era: past paradise?; 3. The present malaise in civic participation: empirical and normative dimensions; 4. The causes of 'decline' in social capital theory; 5. Civic trust and shared norms; 6. Beyond Bowling Alone: social capital in twenty-first century America; 7. Justice in diverse communities: lessons for the future.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.
Diverse Communities is a critique of Robert Putnam's social capital thesis, re-examined from the perspective of women and cultural minorities in America over the last century. Barbara Arneil argues that the idyllic communities of the past were less positive than Putnam envisions and that the current 'collapse' in participation is better understood as change rather than decline. Arneil suggests that the changes in American civil society in the last half century are not so much the result of generational change or television as the unleashing of powerful economic, social and cultural forces that, despite leading to division and distrust within American society, also contributed to greater justice for women and cultural minorities. She concludes by proposing that the lessons learned from this fuller history of American civil society provide the normative foundation to enumerate the principles of justice by which diverse communities might be governed in the twenty-first century.
Review quote:
"For Arneil, social capital is not neutral, nor does it have only positive outcomes. Like other social capital theorists, such as Pierre Bourdieu, she sees it as another means for the powerful to protect their interests....Arneil's much more complex and exacting challenge to us in Diverse Communities is to build a just society in which everyone truly belongs and everyone can fully participate and flourish."
Tim Broadhead, Literary Review of Canada
Table of contents:
1. Social capital, justice and diversity: an introduction; 2. The progressive era: past paradise?; 3. The present malaise in civic participation: empirical and normative dimensions; 4. The causes of 'decline' in social capital theory; 5. Civic trust and shared norms; 6. Beyond Bowling Alone: social capital in twenty-first century America; 7. Justice in diverse communities: lessons for the future.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.