A Nation of Civic Freelancers

Publication Date: December 2001

Publisher:

Author(s): Ed Wojcicki

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: University of Illinois at Springfield; civic engagement; Illinois

Type: Thesis/Dissertation

Coverage: Illinois

Abstract:

Scholars in several disciplines are now engaged in a spirited debate about citizen participation in the United States. They disagree about trends, and they disagree about the causes of those trends. This thesis steps back from that debate and analyzes how scholars are approaching the scholarship of civic engagement. Inconsistency in the conceptualization of critical terms such as social capital, civil society, and civic engagement has led to varied and inconsistent research findings.

Scholars bring many assumptions to their research and employ dozens of variables in search of answers about why participation matters, but there is no consensus yet on what set of variables is correlated with democratization. A comprehensive model or index is needed. A benchmark survey of civic engagement in Illinois provides a more comprehensive approach to the scholarship of civic engagement; a typology of Illinois civic engagers suggests a model for analysis.

The Illinois study and a separate national AARP study show that Illinoisans and Americans are indeed engaged in their communities, but their levels and kinds of engagement vary considerably--so much so that you might say we have become a nation of civic freelancers. An emerging paradigm shift might explain some of the inconsistency in the current research on civic engagement.