Who Killed Civil Society?: The Rise of Big Government and Decline of Bourgeois Norms

As the U.S. struggles with a range of social issues--whether the opioid epidemic, criminal violence or low education achievement--will look to government to address the problems. In Who Killed Civil Society?, Howard Husock argues that government can do many things well for the disadvantaged--such as providing for basic needs through financial support. But it does not do well in encouraging healthy norms and character, despite the rise of a "social service state" on which the country spends billions. Husock argues that the promotion of healthy norms must be the work of civil society--as it had been historically. The book tells the story of how that changed--and is changing back--through the prism of six key historical figures: Charles Loring Brace, founder of the Children's Aid Society, Jane Addams, founder of Hull House, Mary Richmond, a social work pioneer, Grace Abbott of the federal Children's Bureau, Wilbur Cohen of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Encounter Books
Published: 09/10/2019
ISBN: 9781641770583
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.90lbs