Civic America: A Dying Tradition?

A detailed Summary of Civic America: A Dying Tradition?

As the world prepares to enter the new millennium, America seems to have discarded much of the traditional civic mindedness that was omnipresent merely a half-century ago. The symptoms of this disease are becoming more apparent with each passing year, and investigators can only speculate what the probable causes are. However, the sure consequence of them if left alone is the inevitable death of the nation as Americans know it.

With respect to the preceding thoughts, the available information confirms the conviction that Americans in the present are becoming increasingly less involved in their communities than was true a generation ago. Accumulating General Social Survey and National Opinion Research Center records, it has been found that "social capital" has significantly decreased within the past twenty years. According to Robert Putnam, "social capital" is the features of social life, networks, (webs of friendships) norms, and trusts that enable participants to act together to more effectively pursue shared objectives. Furthermore, the term "civic engagement" is used to refer to people's ties with the life and well being of their communities, not only with politics. Evidence for the regressi

These polls were taken nationwide, and consist of both sexes, all races, every age group, and of all educational levels. With such an overwhelming mass of evidence, one wonders why such symptoms have become prevalent only recently.

married are significantly less trusting and less engaged civicly than married people. ("Multivariate analysis" hints that a major reason why divorce lowers connectedness is that it lowers family income, which in turn might reduce civic engagement.) Married men and women are approximately about a third more trusting and belong to about 15-25 percent more groups than comparable single men and women.

The next social trend thought to have been the culprit for the downfall of Civic America is the degradation of the family unit and marriage in general. The century-long increase in divorce rates, and the contemporary increase in single-parent families (which has doubled since the 1950's) both coincide with the downfall of Civic America. The ratio of all American

vote more often and read newspapers more frequently, two other forms of civic engagement closely correlated with joining and trusting."(SDCA) The GSS records that average Americans' levels of civic engagement "plateau", rising slowly to a peak, maintaining the general peak, and then ending abruptly right before a person's death. The "boomers", born in 1947 were twenty-five years old in 1972 (the earliest year of the GSS), and 47 in 1994 (the latest year). Surprisingly though, an analysis of civic engagement does not show a cycle that replenishes the amassed amount of civic engagement, but a steady decrease in all ages, from generation to generation from 1972-1994. "Older people are consistently more engaged and trusting than younger people, yet we do not become more engaged and trusting as we age... The levels of trust and membership more often fell than rose, reflecting a more or less simultaneous decline in civic engagement among young and old alike, particularly during the second half of the 1980's." (NORC&SDCA-Generational Effects) The second half of the 1980's is where the answer seems to lie.

The final conclusion to the mystery, can be found in nearly every home in the United Stat

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Approximate Word count = 1476
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History