Tag: civic studies

  • Civic Variations on the Fact, Value, Strategy Distinction

    Civic Variations on the Fact, Value, Strategy Distinction

    When civic studies scholars write about civics and citizens, as Peter Levine does today, we will usually mention the following trinity: facts, values, and strategies. Here’s Levine: The citizen is committed to affecting the world. Some important phenomena may be beyond her grasp, so that she sees them but sees no way of changing them. But…

  • Modernity and Despair: What Should We Hope For?

    Modernity and Despair: What Should We Hope For?

    Modernity of our sort produces a certain kind of despair and helplessness because the primary sources of hope are technological development and the institutional efforts of technocrats. The best hope of progress is always elsewhere: the Supreme Court, Silicon Valley, the Justice Department. Looking back we see lots of progress but no role for ourselves…