Making Democracy Work Better: Mediating Structures, Social Capital, and the Democratic Prospect / Edition 1

by Richard A. Couto, Catherine S. Guthrie

Overview

The decade of the 1980s marked a triumph for market capitalism. As politicians of all stripes sought to reinvent government in the image of private enterprise, they looked to the voluntary sector for allies to assuage the human costs of reductions in public policies of social welfare. This book details the "savage side" of market capitalism in Appalachia and explains the social, political, and economic roles that mediating structures play in mitigating it. Profiling the work of twenty-three such mediating structures—community-based organizations that battled to provide social safety nets, fight environmental assaults, and upgrade the education and job skills of Appalachian residents—Richard Couto distills the practical lessons to be found in their successes and shortcomings.

Couto argues that a broader set of democratic dimensions be used in taking the measure of civil society and public policy in the twenty-first century. He shows that mediating structures promote the democratic prospect of reduced inequality and increased communal bonds when they provide and advocate for new forms and increased amounts of social capital—the public goods and moral resources that we invest in one another as members of a community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807848241
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/11/1999
Edition description:	1
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1360L (what's this?)

About the Author

Richard A. Couto, Modlin Chair in Leadership Studies, teaches in the Jepson School at the University of Richmond and is author or editor of eight previous books.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

I. Social Capital and Democratic Theory
1. Social Capital and Appalachia
2. Mediating Structures and the Democratic Prospect

II. The Democratic Prospect of Mediating Structures
3. Social Dimensions
4. Political Dimensions
5. Economic Dimensions I: Mitigating the Market
6. Economic Dimensions II: Providing Social Capital

III. Mediating Structures and Social Capital
7. Creating and Maintaining Community
8. Management Matters
9. Community Change

Conclusion: America's Enduring Dilemma
Appendix A: Community-based Mediating Structures by Area of Focus
Appendix B: Methodology
References
Index

Maps

1. The Spatial Distribution of Appalachian Poverty, 1990
2. Changes in Poverty in Appalachia, 1980-1990
3. Labor Force Participation in Appalachia, 1990
4. Percentage of Appalachian Working-Age Population with a Work Disability, 1990
5. Substandard Housing in Appalachia, 1990
6. Children in Poverty in Appalachia, 1990

Tables1. Changes in Percentage Share of Aggregate American Family Income, by Income Groups, 1980-1995
2. Social Capital Measures of Population
3. Social Capital Measures of Income
4. Social Capital Measures of Family
5. Social Capital Measures of Education
6. Social Capital Measures of Housing
7. Social Capital Measures of Health
8. Percentage of Children in Poverty in Appalachia, 1970-1990

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

In a rich study that combines sophisticated political theory with well-grounded research, Richard Couto examines the potential contributions voluntary organizations make to the 'democratic prospect' of enhancing community and equality in American public life. Specifically, he examines the mediating role a wide range of community-based organizations and coalitions in Appalachia play between the public and private sectors in order to understand how grassroots groups best mitigate and challenge the failure of economies and governments to provide for basic human needs, especially in rural communities and regions of poverty, disinvestment, and deindustrialization.--Dwight B. Billings, University of Kentucky



This is a wonderful book about democracy, economics and community in the real world. Richard Couto has a fine eye for political theory and a fine ear for the poems, songs, chants and voices of people struggling to improve their lives.--James A. Morone, Brown University



Offers an excellent review of the social capital literature. . . . Because the research design of this project can be adapted to many other studies focused on social capital, the book will be especially useful for social scientists and management specialists in various disciplines interested in social capital research.--Choice

Editorial Reviews

This is a wonderful book about democracy, economics and community in the real world.

James A. Morone, Brown University

"This is a wonderful book about democracy, economics and community in the real world.

James A. Morone, Brown University"

The book will be especially useful for social scientists and management specialists in various disciplines.

"Choice"

From the Publisher