The Soul of Civil Society

Americans care about the public value of moral habits. They like to see virtue rewarded and vice censured, appealing as this does to the nation's deep sense that one's success rests neither in money nor in power but in one's civility. In The Soul of Civil Society Don Eberly and Ryan Streeter look beyond such abstractions as the 'voluntary sector' and superficial communitarian solutions to civic anomie to identify the pivotal role played by local voluntary associations in a civil society. Not only important for the services they provide, these 'little platoons,' as Edmund Burke labeled them, are the public incubators of a 'new' morality, their emphasis on civic engagement at the local level central to preserving America's democratic culture on the national and international stage. More than simply championing the promise of a social renaissance, The Soul of Civil Society is essential reading for those seeking to do battle with a culturally entrenched individualism that threatens the core of America's moral vitality.

Americans care about the public value of moral habits. They like to see virtue rewarded and vice censured, appealing as this does to the nation's deep sense that one's success rests neither in money nor in power but in one's civility. In The Soul of Civil Society Don Eberly and Ryan Streeter look beyond such abstractions as the 'voluntary sector' and superficial communitarian solutions to civic anomie to identify the pivotal role played by local voluntary associations in a civil society. Not only important for the services they provide, these 'little platoons,' as Edmund Burke labeled them, are the public incubators of a 'new' morality, their emphasis on civic engagement at the local level central to preserving America's democratic culture on the national and international stage. More than simply championing the promise of a social renaissance, The Soul of Civil Society is essential reading for those seeking to do battle with a culturally entrenched individualism that threatens the core of America's moral vitality.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Voluntary Associations and the Cultivation of Moral Habits
Chapter 2 The Promise of Social Renaissance
Chapter 3 The Coming Social Renaissance: Restoring America's Civic and Moral Creed
Chapter 4 Toward a Human Scale: Making the World Work at the Street Level
Chapter 5 Individuals and a Healthy Civic Order
Chapter 6 Voluntary Associations, Public Policy, and the Marketplace
Chapter 7 Voluntary Associations and the Remoralization of America
Chapter 8 Targeting Recovery to Low-Income Families
Chapter 9 A Humane Economy: The Moral Dimensions of Enterprise
Chapter 10 Moral Habits and the Public Good
Chapter 11 Fathers, Families, and Citizenship
Chapter 12 Cultivating Moral Habits: Four Social Virtues Worth the Work
Chapter 13 The Reformation of Manners
Chapter 14 The Golden Rule: A Universal Moral Ethic for Society