If we assume that the institutions of civil society, like churches, recreation centers, fantasy football leagues, and book clubs are essential for a flourishing society, it becomes very important to determine how such institutions are developed, maintained, and promoted.
For thinkers as varied as Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Kuyper, and Pope Paul VI, the realm of civil society provides an indispensable area of connection and protection between the individual person and the political order. In Quadragesimo anno, Paul VI writes of the need for “the reform of institutions,” necessary in part because of “the evil of what we have termed ‘individualism’ that, following upon the overthrow and near extinction of that rich social life which was once highly developed through associations of various kinds, there remain virtually only individuals and the State.”
It is at this point that Paul VI invokes the principle of subsidiarity, which is dependent upon and recognizes the rich variegation of human social life, which consists in human identity not only in terms of the individual citizen and the political order, but also in the human person as friend, co-worshiper, family member, co-worker, neighbor, and so on. One of the things most pressing for Paul VI was the idea that these institutions of civil society needed to be strengthened, not only for their own good but also for that of the political order itself and even more broadly for the common good: “for, with a structure of social governance lost, and with the taking over of all the burdens which the wrecked associations once bore, the State has been overwhelmed and crushed by almost infinite tasks and duties.”
How do we reinvigorate civil society once it has declined? How do we help build up what has atrophied? These are questions that are vital for moving beyond a false dichotomy of market and state or individual and state, not only conceptually but practically. As Matthew Kaemingk writes, “Their importance is often ignored by politicians, but sociologists tell us that a flourishing array of non-profits and free organizations consistently leads to measurable declines divorce, poverty, violence, obesity, depression, chronic illness, illiteracy, dependency, homelessness, and political apathy.” But if associations of civil society help lead to these outcomes, what helps lead to associations of civil society?
Melissa Steffan reports at Christianity Today this week on some research that bears on aspects of the necessary answers to these questions. Steffan writes, “Parents considering whether or not to send their children to private school can now weigh more than just tuition and curriculum. According to a new study from professors at Calvin College, the affiliation of a high school student’s school significantly impacts his or her sense of civic duty.”
She is referring to a new article from Jonathan Hill and Kevin den Dulk, “Religion, Volunteering, and Educational Setting: The Effect of Youth Schooling Type on Civic Engagement,” which appears in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
As Hill and den Dulk write, the connection between religion and education is critical: “If both religiosity and education separately help to sustain civic volunteerism over time, then it is a plausible expectation that the two factors in combination will heighten the effect. Our goal in this research is to examine the effect of that interaction on sustaining volunteering from adolescence into early adulthood.” Hill and den Dulk examine public schools, non-religious private schools, religious (Catholic and Protestant) private schools, and homeschool populations at the secondary level. The greatest positive correlation between ongoing commitment to civic activism between secondary school and adulthood was found in Protestant secondary schools. As Steffan summarizes, “They found that Protestant high school graduates are more likely to volunteer as adults (83 percent) than any of their peers—including graduates of Catholic (55 percent), public (48 percent), homeschool (23 percent), and secular private (10 percent) high schools.”
Even for those not usually interested in detailed breakdowns of survey data, the article is worth a close scan. As Hill and den Dulk conclude, “In empirical terms, this study tells us more about what we can reject than what we can affirm. But in rejecting several hypotheses, we can say affirmatively that schooling type is an independent predictor of whether adolescent volunteers will become adult volunteers. By itself, that conclusion is intriguing and important for those who are invested in the civic engagement of young people.”
Programs like the Catholic High School Honor Roll are examples of efforts to promote education both by and for the good of civil society. For further reading on these and related issues, visit the Cardus Education Survey (which is referenced in Hill and den Dulk’s article), and the piece from Jude Chua Soo Meng “Schools as Social Enterprises: The Las Casas Report, Evidence-Based, and Neoliberal Policy Discourse,” in the latest issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality.
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