A New American Creed: The Eclipse of Citizenship and Rise of Populism

A new American creed has reconstructed the social contract. Generations from 1890 to 1940 took for granted that citizenship entailed voting, volunteering, religiosity, and civic consciousness. Conspicuously, the WWII generation introduced collectivist notions of civic obligations--but such obligations have since become regarded as options. In this book, David H. Kamens takes this basic shift as his starting point for exploring numerous trends in American political culture from the 1930s to the present day. Drawing on and synthesizing an enormous array of primary and secondary materials, Kamens examines the critical role of macro social changes, such as the growth and expansion of government and education, often in response to the emergence of globalization. From these tectonic shifts erupted numerous ripple effects, such as the decline of traditional citizen values, the rise of individualism, loss of trust in institutions, anti-elitism, and dramatic political polarization. In this context, antagonism to government as an enemy of personal freedom grew, creating a space for populist movements to blossom, unrestrained by traditional political parties. Beyond painting a comprehensive picture of our current political landscape, Kamens offers an invaluable archive documenting the steps that got us here.

Politics & Social Sciences

Kamens, David H.

Sociology

Stanford University Press

A new American creed has reconstructed the social contract. Generations from 1890 to 1940 took for granted that citizenship entailed voting, volunteering, religiosity, and civic consciousness. Conspicuously, the WWII generation introduced collectivist notions of civic obligations―but such obligations have since become regarded as options. In this book, David H. Kamens takes this basic shift as his starting point for exploring numerous trends in American political culture from the 1930s to the present day. Drawing on and synthesizing an enormous array of primary and secondary materials, Kamens examines the critical role of macro social changes, such as the growth and expansion of government and education, often in response to the emergence of globalization. From these tectonic shifts erupted numerous ripple effects, such as the decline of traditional citizen values, the rise of individualism, loss of trust in institutions, anti-elitism, and dramatic political polarization. In this context, antagonism to government as an enemy of personal freedom grew, creating a space for populist movements to blossom, unrestrained by traditional political parties. Beyond painting a comprehensive picture of our current political landscape, Kamens offers an invaluable archive documenting the steps that got us here.

The book presents quantitative data on national primary curricular emphases for large numbers of countries going back to about 1920. It shows that these curricular outlines tend to be rather similar across very disparate sorts of countries, and suggests world processes that have produced this result. Particular chapters show that the contemporary curriculum dates from changes late in the 19th century; that there has been a general shift toward a "social studies" subject; that instruction in mathematics and especially science has tended to expand, that there have been substantial increases in foreign language instruction (and changes in the languages taught); and that instruction in the arts and physical education came to the standard world educational model rather later than other subjects. It is aimed at educationalists, policy makers, education historians, education researchers and students in the fields of education and politics.

SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE FOR THE MASSES (Studies in Curriculum History)

Education & Teaching

Meyer, John W.

Benavot, Aaron

Schools & Teaching

The Falmer Press

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Books by Kamens, David H.