Boyte, Everyday Politics p. 6 of 6

POLS 381 Democracy and Citizenship

Boyte, Harry. 2004. Everyday Politics: Reconnecting Citizens and Public Life. Philadelphis. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Boyte Chapter 1 The Stirrings of a New Politics

What trends in American culture and society does Boyte see as undermining the role of citizens in public life? Specifically, what three cultural trends are eroding public life?

What are the core elements of the alternative vision that Boyte calls "Everyday Politics?"

How does Boyte define public work?

What point did he make about the Minnesota State Fair?

What is Boyte's critique of citizenship as participation in electoral politics?

What is the ideal citizen in this model?

What is Boyte's critique of citizenship as community service or volunteerism?

What is the ideal citizen in this model?

What movements or developments in American history does Boyte see as the roots for everyday politics.

What does he mean by "Everyday Politcs? Where and when did it occur?

Boyte, Chapter 2 Populisms

What are the two types of populisms? What does each challenge or complain about?

Historically, what was the populist movement? For what did the tradition stand? What did the populist tradition have to do with "the people?"

What happened to populism's roots after the 1950's and 1960's?

According to Boyte, what is the "essence of populism" that has been lost?

What is meant by the "new populism?"

What are the two weaknesses of the new populism, according to Boyte?

How do other modern mobilizing techniques share negative features of canvassing?

What feature of politics (in progressive era of early 20th century) did Jane Adams warn against?

For Boyte why is the legacy of John Dewey mixed? What does he agree with or endorse about Dewey? What does he disagree with regarding Dewey?

How do conservatives use populist appeals to attack liberals?

What other strands from the sixties point to a democratic politics beyond left and right?

Boyte, Chapter 3 Growth of Everyday Politics

How does Bernard Crick Define politics

Why did Saul Alinsky use the story from Thucydides and the Pelopensian War?

What was it about Saul Alinsky's approach to Power that was so appreciated?

Who was Saul Alinsky? What was his background?

What is the relationship between the organizer and the local community according to Alinsky?

What did Alinsky mean in saing "The objective is never an end in itself?"

What does Boyte see as the limitations of Alinsky's approach?

What are several ways that organizers and local leaders in the IAF network modified the organizing approach?

What two sources of power does citizen organizing recognize and what source of power does Boyte say it ignores.

What do IAF organizers see as the challenges of organizing in the suburbs?

How does Boyte see Everyday Politics as overcoming these problems.

Boyte, Chapter 4 Citizenship as Public Work

p. 58 What useful dimensions do Civil Society approaches add to liberal theory's concepts and practices?

What are the serious flaws Boyte sees in Civil Society approaches, similar to the mistakes of John Dewey?

ORIGINS OF CIVIL SOCIETY

How did Scottish intellectuals and Hegel understand Civil Society?
Explain: "The social terrain called civil society often fosters the creation of free spaces that are seedbeds for democratic movements and alternative ways of seeing the world.

Social Historians

What does Boyte mean by Free Spaces?

p. 60 How did Social Historians, such as Sara Evans see Free Spaces in the lives of ordinary people?

Post Modernism

What seems to be Boyte's critique of modernism and the "modernist project?"

Deliberative Approach

Cutting through the Habermas…..what is the main point about public spaces and deliberation?

THE LIMITS OF CIVIL SOCIETY

p. 65 According to Cohen and Arato what is the definition of civil Society?

p. 66 middle of page Boyte's main point…."Theorists such as Cohen……gain through work."

What is his point here?

How did Civil Rights movement and Womens movement show the civic potential of work?

p. 67 paragraph 3 "The settings that prove seedbeds for democratic movements…..not properties of community or voluntary groups."

What is his point here?

p. 68-71 The question here is what does work really have to do with politics, democracy and

citizenship in Boyte's view.

WORK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

p. 71 How did ancient Greeks separate work from politics and democracy?

p. 72 bottom "Arendt failed to grasp…." Here is his point

p. 72-74 According to Boyte how does the tradition of American democracy confound any separation of work from public life? What are some examples?

What do land grant colleges have to do with Boyte's point?

Boyte, Chapter 5 Citizen Education as a Craft, Not a Program

What are some indications that young people are disengaged from politics and public affairs?

Describe traditional Citizenship education (p. 79)

Contrast the story and the lesson Boyte draws from the two playground stories

First playground story / Second Playground story
The story in brief (who/what/how) / The story in brief (who/what/how)
The lesson / The lesson

What point is Boyte making in mentioning PA in Mankato? What is the "striking thing" he notes?

What are the roots and predecessors of Public Achievement?

What three or four characteristics does Boyte use to describe Public Achievement on page 85 and 86?

What does Boyte mean by describing Public Achievement as a "craft" not a "program?"


When Boyte mentions that PA does have programmatic elements, where does his footnote #12 point us?

What are some of the constraints and challenges the PA faces? See page 89 and also "large challenges" on page 94

What did the Baizerman team find about language? What does the experience of PA at MCTC show?

Explain how the Public Work approach to citizenship and democracy differs from the other two.

Boyte, Chapter 6 Jane Adams School for Democracy

What immigrant groups are mentioned as making up the contemporary scene on St. Paul's West Sice?

Describe the Jane Adams School for Democracy? Who, does what, when, and why?

Who was Jane Addams and what were Settlement Houses?

Why does the Jane Addams School, and the citizenship schools of the civil rights movement avoid titles and formalities?

What are the supposed advantages of learning pairs and on -on - one learning?

What are some examples of the political action and public leadership training of the Jane Addams School?

How does Boyte contrast the MOTIVE and METHODS of Service versus Organizing or Civic Learning approaches?

SERVICE / ORGANIZING
Motive - / Motive - s
Method - / Method -

What was the Homeland Project?

What problem was the Citizenship Test Project trying to address?

Overall, what do you think the message of this chapter is about the relationship between cultural diversity and democracy?

Boyte, Chapter 7 Professions as Public Work

What is Boyte's overall argument about how professionals should approach their work?

Tradition of Public Professionalism.

What did John Dewey teach about the relationship between knowledge and power?

What did this imply for the connection between work and education?

What is the "vital legagy" of Dewey's theory of knowledge for democratization? (three points)

What is the example of "Partnerships in Education" and how was a profession made more a form of democratic public work? How is this occupation usually seen as an expert -client relationship? What could be different?

What is the example of " Clergy as Public Workers n" and how was a profession made more a form of democratic public work? How is this occupation usually seen as an expert -client relationship? What could be different?

What is the example of " Politics of Health " and how was a profession made more a form of democratic public work? How is this occupation usually seen as an expert -client relationship? What could be different?

What is the example of " Family Therapy as Public Work " and how was a profession made more a form of democratic public work? How is this occupation usually seen as an expert -client relationship? What could be different?

Boyte, Chapter 8 Architects of Democracy

What is the American Democracy Project? Why did the New York Times get involved? Why did Universities get involved?

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

What is happening to universities that is causing a "crisis of purpose?"

What is Boyte's prescription? How does it involve culture and democracy?

DISCONTENTS, OPEN AND HIDDEN

What does Boyte mean by Instrumental individualism and how does it contribute to the crisis of higher education?

How do the norms and rituals of socialization of academics contribute to the problem?

THINKING POLITICALLY

Why is "thinking politically" difficult at universities? (What are the typical views of politics?)

TRANSLATING EVERYDAY POLITICS INTO PROFESSIONAL SETTINGS

"Thinking politically" as part of civic engagement of higher ed institutions seems like nothing more than common sense. But how does this approach differ from customary approaches to civic engagement at colleges and universities?? ( pp. 136 and 146)

University of Minnesota Task force is given as an example of an alternative approach.

IMPORTANCE OF SELF INTEREST and PUBLIC PROCESS

According to Boyte from where does "deep change" come? Which core concept holds the key? What does it say about internal cultures?

IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC PROCESS

What is the point regarding culture, not within the organization?

BUILDING ON COMMITTED CONSTITUENCIES.

What four constituencies did the University of Minnesota Task force work with effectively?

What two were not worked with as well?

DEMOCRATIZING CULTURE

What are some ways that higher education and community organizations have different democratizing power? Again what is Dewey's point about knowledge and power?

What is it about higher education institutions that gives them great potential to affect change to make culture more democratic? (p. 155 also p. 158). What is the "latent democratic power of higher education?

Quiz 12 Preview Boyte, Chapter 9 Spreading Everyday Politics

How do technical trends and technical ways of thinking undermine "strong conceptions and practices of citizenship?"

Where does Boyte see countertrends?

What are the five strategic directions Boyte sees as needed to renew democracy through everyday politics?

What was the medieval commons? What does Boyte mean by "The Commons today?"

What does the public work perspective add in views about the commons?

What New Deal program does Boyte give as an example of a "commons building effort?"

What modern information system does Boyte encourage us to see as part of "the commons?"

What kind of government workers does Boyte emphasize as having potential to build citizen government partnerships.

How does Boyte see citizen everyday politics affecting representative government?

What are examples of mediating institutions according to Boyte?

What's the problem? What has happened to mediating institutions?

What does Boyte give as an example of democratic culture-making of the past?

The Center for Democracy and Citizenship is working with organizations in what country and discovering rough equivalents to public work?

How does Boyte see the "information age" as bringing to an end the power of meritocracy in which citizenship is defined in weak ways.

Boyte, Chapter 10 Freedom

What is the conservative meaning of freedom? Which of Isiah Berlin's two freedom's is it?

What is the alternative meaning of freedom seen in the African-American freedom movement and the commonwealth tradition? Which of Isiah Berlin's two freedom's is it?

How do "everyday politics" and the "commonwealth ideals" cut across diverse ideologies and have potential for building common ground across the political spectrum? What are examples of its appeal to the left and to the right?

List, in brief the three main meanings of "commonwealth?"

Explain the first meaing of commonwealth and give examples of how it has been used.

Explain the second meaing of commonwealth and give examples of how it has been used.

Explain the third meaing of commonwealth and give examples of how it has been used.

What are the two elements of modern politics that have been divided and which everyday politics and the commonwealth tradition can bring together?