A Time to Build
A Time to Build

Author: Yuval Levin

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2020-01-21

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1541699289

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A leading conservative intellectual argues that to renew America we must recommit to our institutions Americans are living through a social crisis. Our politics is polarized and bitterly divided. Culture wars rage on campus, in the media, social media, and other arenas of our common life. And for too many Americans, alienation can descend into despair, weakening families and communities and even driving an explosion of opioid abuse. Left and right alike have responded with populist anger at our institutions, and use only metaphors of destruction to describe the path forward: cleaning house, draining swamps. But, as Yuval Levin argues, this is a misguided prescription, rooted in a defective diagnosis. The social crisis we confront is defined not by an oppressive presence but by a debilitating absence of the forces that unite us and militate against alienation. As Levin argues, now is not a time to tear down, but rather to build and rebuild by committing ourselves to the institutions around us. From the military to churches, from families to schools, these institutions provide the forms and structures we need to be free. By taking concrete steps to help them be more trustworthy, we can renew the ties that bind Americans to one another.

"They Stay Until They Die"

Author: Carlos Ríos Espinosa

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 9781623136079

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"This report found that many people with disabilities enter institutions as children and remain there for their entire lives. Most of these institutions visited by Human Rights Watch researchers did not provide for more than people’s basic needs, such as food and hygiene, with scarce contact with the community and little opportunity for personal development. Some residents are tied to their beds and given sedatives to control them."--Publisher website.

The Real World of College
The Real World of College

Author: Wendy Fischman

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2023-08-01

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 0262547260

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Why higher education in the United States has lost its way, and how universities and colleges can focus sharply on their core mission. For The Real World of College, Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner analyzed in-depth interviews with more than 2,000 students, alumni, faculty, administrators, parents, trustees, and others, which were conducted at ten institutions ranging from highly selective liberal arts colleges to less-selective state schools. What they found challenged characterizations in the media: students are not preoccupied by political correctness, free speech, or even the cost of college. They are most concerned about their GPA and their resumes; they see jobs and earning potential as more important than learning. Many say they face mental health challenges, fear that they don’t belong, and feel a deep sense of alienation. Given this daily reality for students, has higher education lost its way? Fischman and Gardner contend that US universities and colleges must focus sharply on their core educational mission. Fischman and Gardner, both recognized authorities on education and learning, argue that higher education in the United States has lost sight of its principal reason for existing: not vocational training, not the provision of campus amenities, but to increase what Fischman and Gardner call “higher education capital”—to help students think well and broadly, express themselves clearly, explore new areas, and be open to possible transformations. Fischman and Gardner offer cogent recommendations for how every college can become a community of learners who are open to change as thinkers, citizens, and human beings.

Politics Is for Power
Politics Is for Power

Author: Eitan Hersh

Publisher: Scribner

Published: 2020-01-14

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1982116781

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A brilliant condemnation of political hobbyism—treating politics like entertainment—and a call to arms for well-meaning, well-informed citizens who consume political news, but do not take political action. Who is to blame for our broken politics? The uncomfortable answer to this question starts with ordinary citizens with good intentions. We vote (sometimes) and occasionally sign a petition or attend a rally. But we mainly “engage” by consuming politics as if it’s a sport or a hobby. We soak in daily political gossip and eat up statistics about who’s up and who’s down. We tweet and post and share. We crave outrage. The hours we spend on politics are used mainly as pastime. Instead, we should be spending the same number of hours building political organizations, implementing a long-term vision for our city or town, and getting to know our neighbors, whose votes will be needed for solving hard problems. We could be accumulating power so that when there are opportunities to make a difference—to lobby, to advocate, to mobilize—we will be ready. But most of us who are spending time on politics today are focused inward, choosing roles and activities designed for our short-term pleasure. We are repelled by the slow-and-steady activities that characterize service to the common good. In Politics Is for Power, pioneering and brilliant data analyst Eitan Hersh shows us a way toward more effective political participation. Aided by political theory, history, cutting-edge social science, as well as remarkable stories of ordinary citizens who got off their couches and took political power seriously, this book shows us how to channel our energy away from political hobbyism and toward empowering our values.

First Amendment Institutions
First Amendment Institutions

Author: Paul Horwitz

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2013-01-07

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 0674070925

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Addressing a host of hot-button issues, from the barring of Christian student groups and military recruiters from law schools and universities to churches’ immunity from civil rights legislation in hiring and firing ministers, Paul Horwitz proposes a radical reformation of First Amendment law. Arguing that rigidly doctrinal approaches can’t account for messy, real-world situations, he suggests that the courts loosen their reins and let those institutions with a stake in First Amendment freedoms do more of the work of enforcing them. Universities, the press, libraries, churches, and various other institutions and associations are a fundamental part of the infrastructure of public discourse. Rather than subject them to ill-fitting, top-down rules and legal categories, courts should make them partners in shaping public discourse and First Amendment law, giving these institutions substantial autonomy to regulate their own affairs. Self-regulation and public criticism should be the key restraints on these institutions, not judicial fiat. Horwitz suggests that this approach would help the law enhance the contribution of our “First Amendment institutions” to social and political life. It would also move us toward a conception of the state as a participating member of our social framework, rather than a reigning and often overbearing sovereign. First Amendment Institutions offers a new vantage point from which to evaluate ongoing debates over topics ranging from campaign finance reform to campus hate speech and affirmative action in higher education. This book promises to promote—and provoke—important new discussions about the shape and future of the First Amendment.

Institutional Neurosis
Institutional Neurosis

Author: Russell Barton

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2017-06-23

Total Pages: 71

ISBN-13: 1483227065

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Institutional Neurosis is a four-chapter text that systematically presents the dreadful mental changes that may result from institutional life and the steps that can be taken to cure them. The term “institutional neurosis promotes the syndrome to the category of a disease, rather than a process, thereby encouraging the public to understand, approach, and deal with it in the same way as other diseases. The opening chapter describes the clinical features of the disorder in mental hospitals, its differential diagnosis, etiology, treatment, and prevention. The next chapters consider the etiology or factors associated with institutional neurosis, including apathy, loss of interest, lack of initiative, and sometimes a characteristic posture and gait. The last chapter reviews the various aspects of the treatment of institutional neurosis. This book is of value to neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers in the allied fields.

How Institutions Think
How Institutions Think

Author: Mary Douglas

Publisher: Syracuse University Press

Published: 1986-06-01

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780815602064

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Do institutions think? If so, how do they do it? Do they have minds of their own? If so, what thoughts occupy these suprapersonal minds? Mary Douglas delves into these questions as she lays the groundwork for a theory of institutions. Usually the human reasoning process is explained with a focus on the individual mind; her focus is on culture. Using the works of Emile Durkheim and Ludwik Fleck as a foundation, How Institutions Think intends to clarify the extent to which thinking itself is dependent upon institutions. Different kinds of institutions allow individuals to think different kinds of thoughts and to respond to different emotions. It is just as difficult to explain how individuals come to share the categories of their thought as to explain how they ever manage to sink their private interests for a common good. Douglas forewarns us that institutions do not think independently, nor do they have purposes, nor can they build themselves. As we construct our institutions, we are squeezing each other's ideas into a common shape in order to prove their legitimacy by sheer numbers. She admonishes us not to take comfort in the thought that primitives may think through institutions, but moderns decide on important issues individually. Our legitimated institutions make major decisions, and these decisions always involve ethical principles.

Feeble-minded in Our Midst
Feeble-minded in Our Midst

Author: Steven Noll

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780807845318

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Steven Noll traces the history and development of institutions for the mentally handicapped in the South between 1900 and 1940. He examines the influences of gender, race, and class in the institutionalization process and relates policies in the South to those in the North and Midwest, regions that had established similar institutions much earlier. In addition, Noll creates a vivid portrait of life and work within institutions and the impact of institutionalization on patients and their families. At the center of the story is the debate between the humanitarians, who advocated institutionalization as a way of protecting and ministering to the mentally deficient, and public policy adherents, who were primarily interested in controlling and isolating perceived deviants. According to Noll, these conflicting ideologies meant that most southern institutions were founded without a clear mission or an understanding of their relationship to southern society at large.

Broken
Broken

Author: Madeline C. Burghardt

Publisher: McGill-Queen's/Associated Medi

Published: 2018-12-30

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0773554831

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An exploration of the impact of institutionalization in the lives of Canadian families.

People and Institutions in the Roman Empire
People and Institutions in the Roman Empire

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-10-12

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 9004441379

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People and Institutions in the Roman Empire examines the lived experience of individuals withinRoman state and social institutions including army, law, religion, arena, and baths. In so doingit contextualizes Garrett Fagan’s contributions to our understanding of Roman history.