[Note: This posting, the previous several postings,
and at least the one to follow are a restatement of what has been addressed
previously in this blog. Some of the
sentences to come have been provided before but the concern is that other
information has been discovered and an update seems appropriate. The blog has not changed the overall message
– that civics education is seriously deficient – but some of the evidence supporting
that message needs updating.]
Civility among the nation’s political class, according to
what most Americans see currently, is in short supply. The last posting provided evidence of that in
the form of a poll taken by the Georgetown Institute for Politics and Public
Service. That posting ended with
informing the reader this posting will use the concept social capital to
provide more of a qualitative sense of what the nation is experiencing not only
in politics, but across all sorts of social interactions.
The social scientist, Robert D.
Putnam, for example, using that concept, paints a disheartening picture. He defines social capital as a societal
quality characterized by having an active, public-spirited citizenry,
egalitarian political relations, and a social environment of trust and cooperation
– qualities that might seem utopian given the current state of affairs.
In determining whether a given
society has high or low levels of social capital, a social scientist can
measure an array of social indicators. They
can also provide social narratives that illustrate what is happening
today. Putnam looked at a wide variety
of studies of Americans in general, and youth in particular, and came to
disturbing conclusions. He found,
relative to American historical standards, there is less concern for communal
involvement and higher levels of uncivil and criminal behavior.
Here is a stated description that reflects
Putnam’s findings. In a 2002 study, Public Agenda reported:
Most Americans surveyed in a study
released today say rudeness is on the rise in our society and 41 percent admit
they too are sometimes a part of the problem. Unhappiness with reckless
drivers, cell phone abuse, poor customer service, swearing and litter came from
big cities and small towns … nearly half the people surveyed (46 percent) say
bad service drove them out of a store in the past year...
Among the report's key findings were
that:
79 percent of Americans say lack of
respect and courtesy should be regarded as a serious national problem; only 19
percent say it should not be viewed as serious given other issues facing
society; 73 percent believe Americans did treat one another with greater
respect in the past; just 21 percent attributed those feelings to a false
nostalgia for a past that never existed; 62 percent say that witnessing rude
and disrespectful behavior bothers them a lot and 52 percent said the residue
from such episodes lingers with them for some time afterwards; [s]ix in 10
believe the problem is getting worse, and; 41 percent confess to having acted
rude or disrespectful themselves.[1]
This study shows Putnam is not alone, other sources, both
professional social scientists, as the above study indicates, and popular media
reports, echo his message.
Similar reports date back to the
1990s[2] but
those years, even 2002, have been a long time
ago. Are things better today? The global public relation firm, Weber
Shandwick, in partnership with KRC Research,
conducts an annual survey over American views
on civility. These studies began in 2010
and year after year the studies taps into a consistent opinion among Americans,
the nation has a civility problem.
A recent report of the
2018 version of this yearly effort states, “In this year’s installment, we find
Americans continuing to report a severe civility deficit in our nation, with a
vast majority – 93% – identifying a civility problem in society, and most
classifying it as major problem (69%).”[3]
Some years ago, comedians
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert staged a rally in Washington D. C. whose main
message was a call to restore civility to our national political
discourse. The rally, described by the New York Times as “the enormous crowd,
which stretched from the Capitol almost to the Washington Monument”[4]
and was covered live on C-Span.
In short, the rally hit a
responsive chord. It reflected the
general recognition that life in America, when it comes to getting along with
others, is becoming more challenging.
This account on social incivility ends with a contemporary
statistic: 56% of all fatal accidents have
at least one of the involved drivers exhibiting aggressive driving – better
known as road rage.[5]
But why, one can ask, are things so uncivil? The next posting will venture into the
often-cited main causes for this social instability. Underlying the rudeness, short-temperedness,
and belligerence are economic realities but the trend toward this concerning
condition has grown not only during times of economic challenge but during
economic abundance as well.
The
use of social capital shifts the emphasis a bit; a shift that adds nuance to a
crude economic characterization. For one
thing, this blog has also argued that the economic factors have settled into a
receptive cultural foundation with the nation’s adoption of the natural rights
perspective as its dominant view of government and politics.
As
the evidence above indicates, incivility predates the most recent economic
downturn; the downturn just heightened what was already in the works. Some of these other factors have already been
mentioned, but the next posting will review them in terms of how they affect
the levels of social capital in the nation.
[1] This research conducted for The Pew Charitable
Trusts, a non-profit organization. This survey study interviewed 2,013 adults
randomly selected.
[2] A review of this literature includes the following:
Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment (CEASE). The Effect of Violence on Children’s Lives (Information Sheet # 10).
New York: Teacher College Press, 2000; Gest, T. and Pope, V. (1996, March 25).
Crime time bomb. U. S. News and World
Report. pp. 28-36; Ellis, B. E. (1996, June/July). Why kids are ruining
America. George. pp. 96-98 & 128;
Newsweek. “The Rap on Rap.” (October
9) (2000): 58-65. Starting in the 1990s, there was
a sense that social behavior was becoming too uncivil. This sense was reflected in the writings of
social commentators across the political spectrum (from Hillary Clinton on the
left, to Michael Novak on the right).
Citizens in general seemed concerned over the low levels of civility
being manifested in contemporary American life.
See Don
E. Eberly, “Introduction: The Quest for a Civil Society,” in Building a Community of Citizens: Civil
Society in the 21st Century,
ed. Don E. Eberly (Lanham, MD:
University Press of America, Inc., 1994), xvii-xlviii.
[3] Weber
Shandwick, “Civility in America 2018:
Civility at Work and in Our Public Squares,” Powell Tate/KRC Research,
n. d., accessed April 28, 2019, https://www.webershandwick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Civility-in-America-VII-FINAL.pdf.
[4] Sabrina Tavernise and Brian Stelter, “At Rally,
Thousands – Billions? - Responded,” New
York Times, October 30, 2010, accessed April 27, 2019, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/us/politics/31rally.html?_r=1&hp.
[5] “Road Rage,” NBC News:
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, July 14, 2016.
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