Our Future Environment

Civic engagement can be defined as engaging in any volunteer or community minded group. Here we will emphasize the role of civic groups in the political and advocacy realm. Volunteering oversees or localized groups that focus solely on social justice without policy implications are not included. These organizations certainly should exist but do not always interact with legislature or promote voting in the political realm.
Although the role of civic engagement is not necessarily an antidote to narrow group and self interest, it is a way for citizens, new or native, to directly participate and express a sense of commitment and responsibility (Renshon, 2005, 67). Is civic engagement too “conceptual” and idealistic for new and American born Americans alike?  The creedal ideals of “Freedom, Equality, Justice, and Humanity” are highly conceptual. However, participation in civic groups does provide a way to interact and contribute to society so that these ideas are expressed.
A recent review of civic engagement literature (Theiss-Morse & Hibbing, 2005) makes three central claims against whether involvement in community organizations and voluntary associations encourage active citizenship and stronger democracies. These criticisms are as follows: people are unlikely to be involved in heterogeneous groups of people who do not agree on issues, voluntary groups are not always democratic or instill democratic beliefs, and voluntary association activity may not necessarily increase political activity. The main criticisms tend to focus on how we define volunteer civic groups as politically engaged or not and how those groups participate in public or private life. Civic groups have and do exist in the United States to advocate for numerous interests but these civic groups certainly are not always motivated to benefit all (Kymlicka & Norman, 1994, 363-364). Overall there is a positive but not robust relationship between voluntary membership and political participation.
Theiss-Morse and Hibbing (2005) conclude with a plea to researchers. They state that a dispute in literature over the view that civic participation invariably results in more active citizens ultimately rests on an understanding of human behavior. Researchers should make their assumptions regarding human nature clear in order to strengthen theories and research. Evidence does not support the idea that associational activity, as defined as any type of voluntary membership, political or not, leads to more democratic citizens and nation. Their evidence implies that citizens either directly participate in the political realm or they do not. The problem in the assumptions of human motivation may lie in the assumption that people, especially youth, are ‘naturally’ intrinsically motivated to be civically engaged.

Filed under: fostering identity on May 26th, 2008