Using Social Models of Civic Engagement to Strengthen Democracy

• In Event: Civic Engagement Models and Practices

Abstract

Work on social models (“dynamic social theories”) could increase the ability of scholars to support civic engagement and education at scale to strengthen democracy more effectively.
#MeToo and Black Lives Matter spread rapidly across the world, through social media and people deciding to act in their communities and institutions. As a result many organisations addressed sexual abuse and racial discrimination, some superficially, but people were jailed, policies strengthened and many institutions accelerated change. There was also a backlash, from people who felt threatened or saw opportunities to further their causes.
These movements and the institutions they influence are examples of social models that transmit behavioour, knowledge, skills, and values which shape society. Movements of action and reaction can be found throughout history, creating our democracies and shaping societies.
People actively promote different social models across the political spectrum, from MAGA and the Tea Party movement to community organising and democratic socialists. Social models inform and inspire people to adopt new ways of doing things, such as cooperatives, citizens’ assemblies and other democratic innovations, as well as forms of illiberal pseudo democracy that have been developed and copied by many rulers.
This insight offers us the basis for innovative theory and methods for advancing democratic civic engagement and counteracting anti-democratic movements.
Why is this important for the political science of civic engagement?
Very simply, it means recognising the power of example in promoting social development and the use of stories, media and demonstration projects to spread models of practice.
This does not mean that political scientists should be uncritical advocates of particular models, but use research and knowledge to work collaboratively with citizens, practitioners and policy-makers to improve real-time social models (‘dynamic social theories’) for democratic civic engagement. This includes:
Finding and using methods for developing a shared understanding of what kind of society people want and how best to bring it about,
Supporting democratic innovations, helping to assess what works and sharing lessons in practice
Identifying, learning from and spreading relevant models of best practice
Embedding systematic evaluation, reflection and continuous improvement into practice of all institutions, to improve social outcomes
Improving capacity for civic education at all levels, from family learning and parenting, through schools, higher education, workplace learning, and community education
Strengthening communities of practice among practitioners, scholars and citizens to share skills, knowledge & advocacy for effective civic engagement
Learning from other models of professional practice, particularly public health, community planning and marketing
Understanding and influencing incentives in higher education to increase impact and effectiveness of the use of knowledge in society.
This is a significant task, about developing the institutional capacity of political and social sciences to support democratic civic engagement as the way in which we run our societies.
Powerful people are actively promoting undemocratic and illiberal forms of civic engagement in most countries, so that political scientists have a responsibility to help citizens develop pluralistic, open, inclusive, democratic and effective models of political engagement and governance.
My paper and presentation will include an overview of social models as ‘dynamic social theories’ with examples and implications for practice and scholarship.
My work draws on experience of setting up and running a wide variety of civic education programmes across England, locally and nationally, and running workshops in Europe, including the Council of Europe’s World Forum for Democracy, as well as work on models of climate governance and accountability of global institutions.

References
‘Can political science save democracy? Learning from models of civic and political education across the world’ https://preprints.apsanet.org/engage/apsa/article-details/64efe478dd1a73847fda42fd)
Unwrapping the McDonald's model: An introduction to dynamic social theory in The Journal of American Culture: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jacc.13467 or my summary in the LSE’s Impact Blog

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Author

• Titus Alexander, Democracy Matters