Week 5 Conference

Post your answer to this question (300 words maximum). In addition, post your response to at least one other student's answer, and reply to any response to your posting.

The questions for Weeks 5 and 6 challenge us to make certain that we grasp the basic concept of “civil society as a learning domain” (with different components and dimensions).

1. Influential political theorists have raised grave doubts about the state and capacity of contemporary citizens to both participate in, and have influence over, the direction of collective life. Why are they so doubtful? What are some of the identified obstacles to authentic citizenship? Where are the glimmers of hope?

     It is believed that the political theorists become so doubtful, because they  are of the opinion that the potential of civil society is not absorbed into the state and economy.  Welton (2005) indicates that the "civil society is   a social space, with emancipatory political influenced by but not completely absorbed into the state and economy" (p. 101). Also,  theorists believe that the potential of the society enable them to function even though there is bureaucratic authoritarianism south and new movement west.

     In so doing they say obstacles arise which affect the authentic citizenship to unsettled the relationships between the passions, and interests of  the individual and of the public or commonwealth.  Another factor is to have individuals "rights" and "privileges" protected by law.  Also, some theorists are of the determination to conceptualize civil society by controlling the social space by force and affections.  Other factor which affect the authenticity is "the state coterminous with civil society" (Welton, 2005, p. 101).   Also, another factor that is  taken into consideration is the ill-considered sentiment in which the society is bound.

     Therefore, the glimmer of hope in which I believe come from it is the development of ideas by one theorist. which uncoupled civil society from both state  and economy.  Another glimmer of hope is the turn to cultural sphere within the critical theory, which made ideas of individuals less prisoner and more actor on their terms. Welton(2005) indicates that "Today civil society is understood as the sphere of identity formation, social integration, and cultural reproduction, where the family is "in" :the economy is "out"" (p. 102).