Civil Societies In America Today: Article Analysis

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This article is based on the author’s perception of the state of civil societies in America today. Civil societies are voluntary civic and social organizations that are not controlled by the government. This can include colleges/universities, charities, religious organizations, clubs, interest groups, unions and other various organizations. Scholars often find that the existence of strong and active civil societies in an important precursor to democracy. In the past America was highly revered as a model to be emulated in this regard; but lately, according to the author, American civil society has declined. Researchers in many fields have discovered that the quality of public life and the performance of social institutions are heavily influenced…show more content…
At my age I cannot necessarily remember, but I can imagine from things I have read that in previous decades there was much more (meaningful) social interaction and camaraderie among Americans. The author pointed out that for many years labor unions were the most common organizational affiliations, yet this has fallen dramatically for the past five decades. Talking to people my parent’s age or older (60+) it always seems that membership in your trade’s union was par-for-the-course and an important part of their lives. The same goes for more informal groups of people who would meet for coffee or…show more content…
This is strongly seen in the increased perception of the rise of school violence, when in fact, school violence peaked around 1993 (6 years before Columbine) and has been steadily falling ever since (Eller, Violence and Culture). Much of this can be attributed to the effect of the media (to be addressed more later on); violence has pervaded our culture and become almost background noise. At any one time, 3 out of the most watched 5 television shows are crime-related (Eller). Americans have an unusual fascination with crime unparalleled in other cultures. All of these factors combined creates a strong unease with those around us and causes people to keep their distance from those even in regular close proximity to

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