scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Topic

Civic engagement

About: Civic engagement is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7510 publications have been published within this topic receiving 196959 citations. The topic is also known as: citizen participation.


Papers
More filters
Book
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Putnam as mentioned in this paper showed that changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women's roles and other factors are isolating Americans from each other in a trend whose reflection can clearly be seen in British society.
Abstract: BOWLING ALONE warns Americans that their stock of "social capital", the very fabric of their connections with each other, has been accelerating down. Putnam describes the resulting impoverishment of their lives and communities. Drawing on evidence that includes nearly half a million interviews conducted over a quarter of a century in America, Putnam shows how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women's roles and other factors are isolating Americans from each other in a trend whose reflection can clearly be seen in British society. We sign 30 percent fewer petitions than we did ten years ago. Membership in organisations- from the Boy Scouts to political parties and the Church is falling. Ties with friends and relatives are fraying: we're 35 percent less likely to visit our neighbours or have dinner with our families than we were thirty years ago. We watch sport alone instead of with our friends. A century ago, American citizens' means of connecting were at a low point after decades of urbanisation, industrialisation and immigration uprooted them from families and friends. That generation demonstrated a capacity for renewal by creating the organisations that pulled Americans together. Putnam shows how we can learn from them and reinvent common enterprises that will make us secure, productive, happy and hopeful.

24,532 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Putnam as discussed by the authors showed that crucial factors such as social trust are eroding rapidly in the United States and offered some possible explanations for this erosion and concluded that the work needed to consider these possibilities more fully.
Abstract: After briefly explaining why social capital (civil society) is important to democracy, Putnam devotes the bulk of this chapter to demonstrating social capital’s decline in the United States across the last quarter century. (See Putnam 1995 for a similar but more detailed argument.) While he acknowledges that the significance of a few countertrends is difficult to assess without further study, Putnam concludes that crucial factors such as social trust are eroding rapidly in the United States. He offers some possible explanations for this erosion and concludes by outlining the work needed to consider these possibilities more fully.

11,187 citations

Book
Pippa Norris1
01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: Digital Divide as discussed by the authors examines access and use of the Internet in 179 nations world-wide and finds evidence for a democratic divide between those who do and do not use Internet resources to engage and participate in public life.
Abstract: From the Publisher: Digital Divide examines access and use of the Internet in 179 nations world-wide. A global divide is evident between industrialized and developing societies. A social divide is apparent between rich and poor within each nation. Within the online community, evidence for a democratic divide is emerging between those who do and do not use Internet resources to engage and participate in public life. Part I outlines the theoretical debate between cyber-optimists who see the Internet as the great leveler. Part II examines the virtual political system and the way that representative institutions have responded to new opportunities on the Internet. Part III analyzes how the public has responded to these opportunities in Europe and the United States and develops the civic engagement model to explain patterns of participation via the Internet.

2,824 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article analyzed the pooled General Social Surveys from 1972 to 1994 in a latent variables framework incorporating aggregate contextual data and found that the relationship between community involvement and interpersonal trust is in a tight reciprocal relationship, where the connection is stronger from participation to interpersonal trust rather than the reverse.
Abstract: Theory: Social capital is the web of cooperative relationships between citizens that facilitates resolution of collection action problems (Coleman 1990; Putnam 1993). Although normally conceived as a property of communities, the reciprocal relationship between community involvement and trust in others is a demonstration of social capital in individual behavior and attitudes. Hypotheses: Variation in social capital can be explained by citizens' psychological involvement with their communities, cognitive abilities, economic resources, and general life satisfaction. This variation affects citizens' confidence in national institutions, beyond specific controls for measures of actual performance. Methods: We analyze the pooled General Social Surveys from 1972 to 1994 in a latent variables framework incorporating aggregate contextual data. Results: Civic engagement and interpersonal trust are in a tight reciprocal relationship, where the connection is stronger from participation to interpersonal trust, rather than the reverse.

2,220 citations


Network Information
Related Topics (5)
Democracy
108.6K papers, 2.3M citations
82% related
Politics
263.7K papers, 5.3M citations
81% related
Public policy
76.7K papers, 1.6M citations
81% related
Higher education
244.3K papers, 3.5M citations
80% related
Social change
61.1K papers, 1.7M citations
80% related
Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023165
2022335
2021397
2020404
2019419
2018427