Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T02:34:48.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Turn Away from Government and the Need to Revive the Civic Purpose of Higher Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2016

Katherine J. Cramer
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Higher education in the United States has proud roots in the mission to enable people to engage in self-governance. The current political context is pushing us in another direction. I discuss the context in Wisconsin in particular, and use the challenges there as a reason to consider the civic purposes of political science. Rather than allow the political winds to blow us further into elitism, I argue that we should renew our commitment to educating people for citizenship.

Type
Praxis
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 442 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achen, Christopher C. and Bartels, Larry M.. 2016. Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2008. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Guilded Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press and Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Berry, Jeffrey M. 2003. A Voice for Nonprofits. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Campus Compact. 2012. “A Praxis Brief: Campus Compact’s Response to ‘A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future.’” Boston: Campus Compact.Google Scholar
Cramer, Katherine J. 2016. The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramer, Katherine J. and Toff, Benjamin. 2015. “The Fact of Experience: Rethinking Political Knowledge and Civic Competence.” Presented to the Brigham Young University Civic Engagement Research Conference. Provo, UT: October 15.Google Scholar
Cramer Walsh, Katherine. 2012a. “The Distance from Public Institutions of Higher Education: Public Perceptions of UW—Madison.” Madison: Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education.Google Scholar
Cramer Walsh, Katherine. 2012b. “Putting Inequality in Its Place: Rural Consciousness and the Power of Perspective.” American Political Science Review 106(3): 517–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronon, William. 2011. “Wisconsin’s Radical Break.” March 21. New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/opinion/22cronon.html?_r=0.Google Scholar
Delli Carpini, Michael X. and Keeter, Scott. 1996. What Americans Know about Politics and Why it Matters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Drury, Gwen. 2011. “The Wisconsin Idea: The Vision that Made Wisconsin Famous.” Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin-Madison Community Partnerships and Outreach Staff Network. Accessible at http://www.ls.wisc.edu/service-wisidea.html.Google Scholar
Flavin, Patrick. 2012. “Income Inequality and Policy Representation in the American States.” American Politics Research 40(1): 29–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2005. “Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness.” Public Opinion Quarterly 69(5): 778–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2012. Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. New York and Princeton, NJ: Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press Google Scholar
Herzog, Karen. 2015. “Walker Proposes Changing Wisconsin Idea—Then Backs Away.” February 4. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, jsonline.com. http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/scott-walkers-uw-mission-rewrite-could-end-the-wisconsin-idea-b99439020z1-290797681.html Google Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer L. and Einstein, Katherine Levine. 2015. Do Facts Matter? Information and Misinformation in American Politics. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaac, Jeffrey. 2015. “For a More Public Political Science.” Perspectives on Politics 13(2): 269–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R. and Skocpol, Theda, eds. 2005. Inequality and American Democracy: What We Know and What We Need to Learn. New York: Russell Sage.Google Scholar
Jan, Tracy. 2014. “GOP Pushes Funding Cuts for Social Science Work.” Boston Globe, April 14. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/04/14/gop-pushes-funding-cuts-for-social-science-work/5q4mMRROhWuwHaC46lW23N/story.html.Google Scholar
Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities. 1999. “Returning to our Roots: The Engaged Institution.” Washington, DC: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.Google Scholar
Lupia, Arthur. 2006. “How Elitism Undermines the Study of Voter Competence.” Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 18(1–3): 217–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macedo, Stephen, Alex-Assensoh, Yvette M., Berry, Jeffrey M., Brintnall, Michael, Campbell, David E., Fraga, Luis Ricardo, Fung, Archon, Galston, William A., Karpowitz, Christopher F., Levi, Margaret, Levinson, Meira, Lipsitz, Keena, Niemi, Richard G., Putnam, Robert D., Rahn, Wendy M., Reich, Rob, Rodgers, Robert R., Swanstrom, Todd and Cramer Walsh, Katherine. 2005. Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Have Undermined Citizenship, and What We Can Do About It. A Report of the American Political Science Association’s Standing Committee on Civic Education and Engagement. Washington, DC: Brookings.Google Scholar
McCarthy, Charles. 2012. The Wisconsin Idea. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement. 2012. “A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future.” Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.Google Scholar
President’s Commission on Higher Education. 1947. Higher Education for American Democracy. U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Rigby, Elizabeth and Wright, Gerald C.. 2011. “Whose Statehouse Democracy: Policy Responsiveness to Poor Versus Rich Constituents in Poor Versus Rich States.” In Who Gets Represented?, ed. Enns, Peter and Wlezien, Christopher. New York: Russell Sage.Google Scholar
Schneider, Pat. 2015. “Scott Walker Removes ‘Wisconsin Idea’ from UW’s Mission in Budget Bill.” The Capital Times, February 4. http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/scott-walker-removes-wisconsin-idea-from-uw-s-mission-in/article_75700525-7d2c-5f87-9de9-8309258c0674.html.Google Scholar
Sirianni, Carmen and Friedland, Lewis. 2001. Civic Innovation in America: Community Empowerment, Public Policy, and the Movement for Civic Renewal. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thelin, John R. 2011. A History of American Higher Education, 2d ed. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar