Civic Engagement Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Civic engagement, as a concept, combines diverse forms of involvement, ranging from political to leisure activities, under one notion. The concept stresses activity oriented toward or originating from society. It emerged in the 1990s when it was used to refer to involvement in public affairs that creates network relations among citizens. Yet, despite its increased application, it lacks conceptual clarity. A narrow definition equates civic engagement with political participation. As a distinct concept, however, it is more useful when it more broadly refers to voluntary, public activities that are oriented toward society and carried out without the intention of profit.

In the Middle Ages, the notion of engagement referred to an oral commitment to a contract. Later, it was used when contracting artists, waging war, and purchasing stocks. In social sciences, it emerged in the context of the civil society discourse with the prefix “civic” indicating a commitment to public, nonviolent, self-organized, discursive, and pluralistic activities.

Modes And Fields

Civic engagement is usually associated with citizen organizations active in the fields of politics, human services, culture, education, religion, sports, environment, development, or emergency aid. But it also occurs in informal groups, networks, and social movements that are more difficult to research and are often overlooked. In recent decades, a reflexive form of engagement has emerged that is characterized by choice, a biographical match in one’s life, and the recognition of own aims, instead of tradition, life-long commitment, and determination by organizational needs. Further, semi professionalization substitutes lay experience, and the expectation of reciprocity includes the compensation of expenses.

Research Agenda

Research typically focuses on the positive effects of civic engagement. Robert D. Putnam refers to networks of civic engagement as sources of social capital that promote good governance and economic development. Other possible outcomes are the production of social services and, as a by-product, the promotion of social integration. More sociologically oriented streams of research try to understand the occurrence of civic engagement and use surveys and register data to explain individual motives and societal structures. Policy research deals with infrastructures and policy measures that advance civic engagement.

Problems

The lack of conceptual clarity leads to problems with measurement and comparability. There is no conceptual study that links civic engagement to related concepts like volunteering, nonprofit associations, or civic activism. Second, reference to the common good accounts for much of the attraction the concept enjoys, but it also blurs its meaning because it combines commitment with moral standards. What constitutes the common good remains highly contested in plural societies. For example, nongovernmental organizations are sometimes seen as particularistic interest groups and other times as advancing the public interest. Third, whether civic engagement should be evaluated according to the deontological ethics of “well-meaning” or the consequential logics of “good results” remains unclear. Finally, the negative effects of civic engagement are often overlooked. Even well-meant engagement can increase the power difference between social groups, degrade the human object of engagement, or sacrifice the activist.

Bibliography:

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