Communitarian Letter #13
In this Issue:
1.
We Read – Articles of interest
2.
New Book – on Universalism vs. Relativism
3.
Communitarian event
4.
Call for Endorsements – an invitation to endorse the Diversity Within Unity and
Responsive Communitarianism platforms
5.
New Communitarian Articles – articles and essays with a communitarian focus
6.
Op Eds – on a communitarian approach to mourning
7.
Communitarian Essay Contest Results
1. We read:
■ Collegiality and community are considerably more important than salary in
determining the happiness and job satisfaction of professors. In “Young Ph.D.’s Say
Collegiality Matters More than Salary,” Piper Fogg writes that a Harvard study
indicates that job climate and community aspects such as fair evaluations,
collaboration opportunities, interaction with senior colleagues and feelings of unity
are five times as important as compensation in predicting satisfaction. The article,
published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, says that the sense of being valued,
the study found, was frequently more attractive than a $10,000 raise. For more
information, go to www.chronicle.com.
■ “Seeking a ‘Third Place’ Online”. Third places, writes Jason Fry in The Wall
Street Journal, are neither home nor work – they are neutral, shared areas such as
bars or cafes where communal interaction occurs; they often serve as community
hubs and focal points. Fry raises the question of whether online communities such as
blogs or games can serve as third places. Although they cannot “unify the
neighborhood,” a criterion for offline third places, Fry suggests that that the social
and participatory nature of some online communities should make us consider
whether to acknowledge these as third places in their own right. This article may be
read here.
■ By involving drug dealers in the community and giving them a say in their fate, a
town in North Carolina has drastically reduced drug trafficking. Mark Schoofs reports
in The Wall Street Journal that the controversial approach involves summoning – but
not arresting – drug dealers as well as “influentials” – their family and close friends.
The offenders are then given the choice to find other lines of work, with the
assistance of the police and community resources such as a local church. This
approach, which stresses both responsibility to the community as well as
emphasizing dealers’ say over their fate, has enjoyed significant success in High
Point, NC. This article was published in the September 27th edition of the paper;
subscribers can access it here.
2. New Book:
■ Universalism vs. Relativism. This important book, edited by Don Browning,
addresses one fundamental question: are there any moral truths which can be
considered truly universal? The authors in this volume present their views, which
range from Richard Bernstein’s qualified relativism, based on a “good reasons”
approach and William Galston’s “moral pluralism,” which rejects “exceptionless”
moral tenets to Franklin Gamwell, who argues for a “transcendental principle” which
supposes that at some level, all moral choices are grounded on a universal moral
norm. Amitai Etzioni suggests starting with the concept of self-evident truths. These
“limited but crucial” core concepts, which enumerate universally truths and beliefs,
can provide a forceful foundation for thinking about cross-cultural morals. Click here
for the full text his chapter “Self-Evident Truth (Beyond Relativism).”
3. You are invited:
The Brookings Institute Public Event Series
Book Discussion: Universalism Vs. Relativism
Speakers: William Galston, Don Browning, James Turner Johnson, Amitai Etzioni
This event is open to the public:
The Brookings Institute
Thursday, November 16, 1:00 PM
1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036
4. Call for Endorsements:
Over 375 heads of state, academics and policymakers have endorsed the Diversity
Within Unity Platform. To read more about the platform and to see others who have
endorsed it, please click here. We hope you will consider joining us.
Similarly, over 600 heads of state, academics and policymakers have endorsed the
Responsive Communitarian Platform: please consider joining us by clicking here, where
you can learn more about responsive communitarianism and its tenets.
5. New Communitarian Articles
■ The true fault line that runs through today’s international affairs is not between
Western and non-Western civilization. In “The Global Importance of Illiberal
Moderates,” published recently in Cambridge Review of International Affairs, shows
that the real schism lies between violence and persuasion as means of advancing
values. As the West seeks to define its stance in the Muslim world, those who reject
violence and favor persuasion should be embraced as allies, regardless of whether
their views are liberal or illiberal. Click here to read.
■ A communitarian view of sex and sexuality is presented in International Review of
Sociology. Two primary modes of thinking on this issue exist today, write Etzioni and
Mackenzie Baris. The ‘containing’ position regards sex and sexuality as weaknesses,
sins, or failings, whereas the ‘liberating’ view holds that they are natural and positive.
The communitarian approach to this issue places it on a continuum between these
two poles. Rejecting both the libertarian disdain for any and all regulation, as well as
the ‘liberating’ notion that all forms and expressions of sex and sexuality are positive,
Etzioni and Baris chart a course that bears in mind both personal happiness and
societal cohesion. The full article may be found here.
■ Four books regarding the polarization of American politics, the disunity of the
Democratic party and the recent national swing toward conservatism are reviewed
and discussed in Contemporary Sociology. The review covers Thomas Frank’s
What’s the Matter with Kansas?, George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant, John
Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge’s The Right Nation and Rick Santorum’s It
Takes a Family. It closes with a call to use fairness as a common ground for wings of
the Democratic party, Independents and moderate Republicans. Click here to read
the article.
■ Are there fundamental differences between policy and plain academic research?
Yes, according to The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy. What makes policy
research unique is that it not only seeks to change conditions instead of merely
observe them, but also that it draws as heavily on non-analytical “distilled practice”
as it does on basic research. “The Unique Methodology of Policy Research”
further illustrates how malleability, scope of analysis, privacy of findings and
interaction with the public all define policy research. The article may be accessed
here.
■ "Stati In Crisi, Cultura Morale E Politica Estera”(in Italian) Quaderni Di Scienza
Politica. Full text here.
■ “The Rights and Responsibilities of Immigrants” Quadrant. Full text here.
6. Op Eds: Communitarian grief
In grief, writes Amitai Etzioni, ask not why but what—what survivors can do for one
another.
■ “Good Grief” The New York Times. Full text here.
■ “Good Grief” (In Hebrew) Ha’aretz, here.
7. Communitarian Essay Contest Winners Announced
The Communitarian Network is pleased to announce three winners in the communitarian
essay contest. Judges Daniel Bell, Hans Joas and Amitai Etzioni awarded prizes to
Robert Ackerman, Professor of Law at Penn State University, for his essay “Taking
Responsibility;” to Richard Coughlin, Professor of Sociology at the University of New
Mexico for “Intergenerational Equity Reconsidered: A Communitarian Perspective”; and
to Paul van Seters, Professor of Globalization and Sustainable Development at Tilburg
University for his essay, “On Moral Globalization.” Professor Ackerman’s essay may be
read here, Professor Coughlin’s here and Professor van Seters’ here. Congratulations to
all the winners.
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