How to be a citizen

Skach, C. L., 1967-2024

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Summary

The oldest question in political philosophy is simple: What is the best way to organize society? The question used to occupy legal scholar C. L. Skach, too, whose answer was found in crafting good constitutions, until her participation in helping to do so, including in Iraq in 2009, led her to step back from law as the answer. As she argues instead in How to Be a Citizen, the good life in society shouldn't come as an imposition through law but should instead emerge from bottom-up interaction. Skach lays out six principles-informed by everything from civil wars to civil rights struggles, from the responsibilities of bystanders to mutual aid in the pandemic-to help us build small societies of our, and our neighbors', making. The lessons are sometimes deceptively simple: share your tomatoes from your garden, cultivate and spend time in unstructured social spaces, teach children to negotiate their social interactions, rather than prescribe such interactions for them. But the aggregate makes clear that many small steps, in concert, can lead to beautiful things, all without the law. Equal parts personal and philosophical, and unfailingly wise, How to Be a Citizen invites us to see society not as something imposed by law but rather something we create together.

Record details

Main title:

How to be a citizen / by C. L. Skach.

Author:

Skach, C. L., 1967-

Imprint:

Collation:

xvii, 262 pages ; 24 cm.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents:

Part I. The problemIntroductionLessons from the lawPart II. The solutionsDon't play follow the leaderOwn your rights, but responsiblyHang out in a piazza, repeatedlyGrow your own tomatoes, and share themEat 'ethnic food', regularlyStart all this very early, about age threeConclusion.

ISBN:

9781526655196 (paperback)

Dewey class:

323.65

Language:

English

Added title:

How to be a citizen : learning to rely less on rules and more on each other

Subject:

CivicsCitizenshipQuality of lifeSocial interactionSocial exchange

BRN:

461680