Definition
Civic agency is a human predisposition toward, and a capability for, leading life together with others in a society with concern for the whole. Agency which is considered civic incorporates a basic principle of a fair, tolerant society.
Civic agency connects political theory with purposeful sociopolitical action by persons who enjoy a minimal condition of meaningful citizenship, i.e., there is at least respect for the “right to have rights” (Dagnino 2005: 5). Environments with a minimum respect for the right of all to have their say and be socially engaged are a precondition for civic agency. Where this precondition is not fulfilled, notions of a public realm and civic agency remain a theoretical potential but cannot operate in a practical sense.
It is common practice to associate civic agency with noncommercial purposes that characterize philanthropy, voluntarism, and equivalent pro-social behaviors.
Introduction
In a most basic meaning, “civic agency” can be understood as...
References
Almond, G., & Verba, S. (1963). The civic culture. Boston: Little Brown.
Anheier, H. (2007). Bringing civility back in – Reflections on global civil society. Development Dialogue., 49, 41–49.
Boyte, H. C. (2017). Against the current: Developing the civic Agency of Students. In M. A. Miller (Ed.), College teaching and learning for change (pp. 186–197). New York: Routledge.
Burchell, G., Gordon, C., & Miller, P. (Eds.). (1991). The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.
Dagnino, E. (2005). Meanings of citizenship in Latin America. Working paper 258, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton: University of Sussex.
Dagnino, E. (2008). Civic driven change and political projects. In A. Fowler & K. Biekart (Eds.), Civic driven change: Citizen’s imagination in action (pp. 27–49). The Hague: Institute of Social Studies.
Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency? The American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962–1023. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2782934.
Heater, D. (2004). A brief history of citizenship. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Marshall, T. (1950). Citizenship, social class and other essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Marshall, T. (1964). Class, citizenship and social development. New York: Doubleday.
Marquand, D. (2004). The Decline of the Public: The Hollowing-Out of Citizenship. London: Polity Press.
Michels, R., Lipset, S., & Paul, E. (1999). Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. London: Transaction Press.
Moncrieffe, J., & Eyben, R. (2007). The power of labelling: How people are categorized and why it matters. London: Earthscan.
Pathak-Shelat, M., & Vinod Bhatia, K. (2019). Young people as global citizens: Negotiation of youth civic participation in adult-managed online spaces. Journal of Youth Studies, 22(1), 87–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2018.1483074.
Walker, J., & Ostrom, E. (2007). Trust and reciprocity as foundations for cooperation: Individuals, institutions, and context. Paper presented at the Capstone Meeting of the RSF Trust Initiative at the Russell Sage Foundation, May.
Zadek, S. (2001). The civil corporation: The new economy of corporate citizenship. London: Earthscan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fowler, A., Biekart, K. (2020). Civic Agency. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_69-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_69-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences