{"id":1093,"date":"2025-08-25T17:37:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T21:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bsu.edu\/civics\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2025-08-27T15:44:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T19:44:41","slug":"a-new-approach-to-politics-and-professions-the-what-and-why-of-civic-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bsu.edu\/civics\/a-new-approach-to-politics-and-professions-the-what-and-why-of-civic-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Approach to Politics and Professions: The What and Why of \u201cCivic Studies\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authored by:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    Harry Boyte<\/strong>, Senior Scholar, Institute for Public Life and Work<\/ol>\n
      Marie Str\u00f6m<\/strong>, Director of Education, Institute for Public Life and Work<\/ol>\n
        Trygve Throntveit<\/strong>, Research Professor in Higher Education and Associate Director, Center for Economic and Civic Learning, Ball State University Teachers College; Director, Institute for Public Life and Work<\/ol>\n

        Ball State University has recently approved a new minor with the title, \u201cCivic Studies.\u201d What is Civic Studies? What does it have to do with students\u2019 preparation for public and professional life? And why is this an important time to invest in the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions not only of college students, but of \u201cWe the People\u201d in general?<\/p>\n

        \u201cWhat should we do?\u201d The development of Civic Studies<\/strong><\/h4>\n

        Founded by seven publicly engaged political theorists in 2007<\/a>, Civic Studies is woven of many theoretical and practical strands, including political philosophy, education, history, economics, cultural studies, and applied sciences such as engineering and public health. \u201cThe goal of civic studies is to develop ideas and ways of thinking helpful to citizens, understood as co-creators of their worlds,\u201d reads the website of Civic Studies at Tufts University\u2019s Tisch College of Citizenship, a hub of the emerging field. \u201cCivic Studies is the intellectual component of civic renewal, the movement to improve societies by engaging their citizens\u201d\u2014not just those with a particular legal status, but the people as a whole.<\/p>\n

        Peter Levine, an architect of Civic Studies at Tufts, frames the field\u2019s central question as, \u201cWhat should we do?<\/a>\u201d This question involves examining facts (what is going on?) and clarifying values (what would be good?) to develop strategies (what might work to make things better?). Good strategies, Levine argues, \u201cmay take many forms\u2026 but if a strategy addresses the question \u2018What should we do?\u2019, then it must guide our own actions\u2013it cannot simply be about how other people ought to act.\u201d <\/p>\n

        More specifically, Civic Studies is concerned with putting scholars and other professionals back in the world as civic actors\u2014”citizen professionals<\/a>\u201d\u2014not aloof observers or managers. This counters long-developing trends<\/a> which isolate scholars and professionals from their fellow citizens. Civic Studies has already catalyzed a growing global community of citizen professionals, and a growing body of civic scholarship and practice:<\/p>\n