Civic studies

A seminal statement is "The New Civic Politics: Civic Theory and Practice for the Future" (2007) by Harry Boyte, Stephen Elkin, Peter Levine, Jane Mansbridge, Elinor Ostrom, Karol Soltan, and Rogers Smith.Reprinted as {{cite journal|last1=Boyte|first1=Harry|last2=Elkin|first2=Stephen|last3=Levine|first3=Peter|last4=Mansbridge|first4=Jane|last5=Ostrom|first5=Rogers|last6=Soltan|first6=Karol|last7=Smith|date=2014|title=The New Civic Politics: Civic Theory and Practice for the Future|journal=The Good Society|volume=23|issue=2|pages=206–11|doi=10.5325/goodsociety.23.2.0206|s2cid=143042630}} The authors write:

We see before us an emerging civic politics, along with an emerging intellectual community, a field, and a discipline. Its work is to understand and strengthen civic politics, civic initiatives, civic capacity, civic society and civic culture. It is emerging in many disciplines and fields of human endeavor.

Civic Studies is the explicit focus in an emerging scholarly literature. Alison K. Cohen, J. Ruth Dawley-Carr, Liza Pappas, and Alison Staudinger write that the question "What is a good citizen?" is fundamental to Civic Studies. This question leads to more specific ones, such as the relationship between citizens and any particular nation-state or regime, and the skills and behavior of "a good citizen." They write, "Questions like these are not currently central to any particular academic discipline and require innovative interdisciplinary rethinking. The emerging field of civic studies, which is organically developing within several academic and political sectors, offers a particularly promising home.{{Cite journal|last1=Cohen|first1=Alison K.|last2=Dawley-Carr|first2=J. Ruth|last3=Pappas|first3=Liza|last4=Staudinger|first4=Alison|date=2013|title=Civic Studies: Fundamental Questions, Interdisciplinary Methods|journal=The Good Society|volume=22|issue=2|pages=122–136|doi=10.1353/gso.2013.0010|s2cid=144812745|issn=1538-9731}}

In the 2017 Dewey Lecture for the John Dewey Society, Harry C. Boyte writes that a "concept of citizen as co-creator" is definitive of "our new field of civic studies."{{Cite journal|last=Boyte|first=Harry C.|date=2017-12-23|title=John Dewey and Citizen Politics: How Democracy Can Survive Artificial Intelligence and the Credo of Efficiency|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/680656|journal=Education and Culture|volume=33|issue=2|pages=13–47|issn=1559-1786|doi=10.5703/educationculture.33.2.0013|s2cid=149229350|url-access=subscription}}

Meira Levinson writes that an aim of her book No Citizen Left Behind{{Cite book|title=No citizen left behind|last=Meira|first=Levinson|others=Harvard University. Press|isbn=9780674065789|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|oclc=758383391|date = 2012-05-08}} was "to bring together research and practice from ... shockingly distinct literatures, traditions, and knowledge bases. ... In so doing, I am indebted to Peter Levine and Karol Soltan for their work fostering a broader field of “civic studies.” {{Cite journal|last1=Levinson|first1=Meira|date=2015|title=Reply to Critics: A Citizen for All Seasons? The Promises and Perils of a Trans-Ideological Vision of Civic Empowerment|journal=Social Philosophy Today|volume=31|pages=183–193|doi=10.5840/socphiltoday201551814|issn=1543-4044}}

In her book American Public Education and the Responsibility of its Citizens, Sarah Stitzlein writes: "I join the efforts of the emerging field of Civic Studies as I tackle social problems using philosophy and social science to address a larger audience concerned with civic renewal." She also identifies with "the spirit of Civic Studies" because she seeks to "emphasize the agency of ... citizens as they co-create their worlds via schools.{{Cite book|title=American public education and the responsibility of its citizens : supporting democracy in the age of accountability|last=Stitzlein|first=Sarah Marie|isbn=9780190692568|location=New York, NY|oclc=988167293|year = 2017}} From a European perspective, Nora Schröder writes:

The development of Civic Studies as an academic discipline can be regarded as a political project in two ways: First, it aims at improving societies by helping the citizens to engage politically. Second, it challenges dominant scientific principles by its self-understanding as a normative science engaged in participatory research and active political engagement.{{Cite journal|last=Schröder|first=Nora|date=January 2018|title=A Civic Studies perspective on European citizens: in search for potential in the conflict surrounding TTIP|journal=European Politics and Society|volume=19|issue=1|pages=120–145|doi=10.1080/23745118.2017.1363507|s2cid=149224037|issn=2374-5118|url=https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-569173}}

Peter Levine's books We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For{{cite book |last1=Levine |first1=Peter |title=We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199939428}} and What Should We Do? A Theory of Civic Life{{cite book |last1=Levine |first1=Peter |title=What Should We Do? A Theory of Civic Life|date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0197570494}} offer overviews of Civic Studies.

Joshua Forstenzer argues that Civic Studies continues the tradition of John Dewey's experimentalism.{{cite book |last1=Forstenzer |first1=Joshua |title=Deweyan Experimentalism and the Problem of Method in Political Philosophy |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=section 10.4 |isbn=978-1351064446}}

Civic Studies has been applied in STEM fields as well. For example, in sustainability research, it has been cited as the source of the question, "What do academics who work in the humanities and social sciences have to offer to food justice, if anything?"{{Cite journal|last=Porter|first=Christine M.|date=2018-11-06|title=Gritty Philosophical Thinking about Food Justice Doing|journal=Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development|volume=8|issue=3|pages=221–224|doi=10.5304/jafscd.2018.083.009|issn=2152-0801|doi-access=free}} In a white paper commissioned for a National Science Foundation workshop on Civic Science, Gwen Ottinger & Nicholas Jordan write, "Civic studies provides a framework for conceptualizing how scientific inquiry can serve as a democratic practice, and for theorizing about the contributions of scientific practice to democratic culture."{{Cite web|url=https://imaginingamerica.org/2014/09/25/a-call-to-action-civic-science-and-the-grand-challenges-of-the-21st-century/|title=A Call To Action: Civic Science And The Grand Challenges Of The 21st Century|date=September 25, 2014|website=Imagining America}}

The Good Society is "A Journal of Civic Studies"{{Cite web|url=http://www.psupress.org:443/Journals/jnls_GS.html|title=The Good Society: A Journal of Civic Studies|website=www.psupress.org}}

Civic Studies is an undergraduate major at Tufts University; an inititiative {{Cite web |title=Civic Studies Initiative – Office of Faculty Development {{!}} Center for Teaching and Learning |url=https://sites.augsburg.edu/ctl/about/civic-studies-initiative/ |access-date=2024-06-18 |language=en-US}} at Augsburg University; and a focus of the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development. Several individual scholars describe their work as contributions to Civic Studies, e.g., Cornell University Development Sociologist Scott Peters and University of Delaware civil discourse and deliberation scholar Timothy J. Shaffer. In April 2016, Tufts University "announced a $15 million gift from alumnus (A'76) Jonathan Tisch and his wife, Lizzie" for Civic Studies.{{Cite web|url=https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/tufts-university-receives-15-million-for-civic-studies|title=Tufts University Receives $15 Million for Civic Studies|date=April 18, 2016|website=Philanthropy News Digest}} Brian Schaffner is the Newhouse Professor of Civic Studies at Tufts University. McMaster University's Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement, established in 2023, has an Endowed Chair in Leadership and Civic Studies.

The Summer Institute of Civic Studies has been held annually at Tufts University's Tisch College of Civic Life since 2009. The European Summer Institute of Civic Studies has been held in various locations in Ukraine and Germany annually since 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://www.science-community.org/en/node/187994|title=Summer Institute of Civic Studies|website=www.science-community.org|language=en|access-date=2019-03-24}}

• Active citizenship

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Category:Educational programs