The New American Social Compact: Rights and Responsibilities in the Twenty-first Century

(Paperback)

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Description

The New American Social Compact examines the need to redefine the social compact in twenty-first-century America. Grant explores the two components of this compactthe rights and obligations of citizenshipas well as what she sees as the four substantive areas that are critical to realizing a new social compact in America. Grant proposes a new social compact that would honor the expansion of civil, political, and social rights in America and would integrate these rights within a new civic procedural ethos, clarifying our obligations to each other, future generations, other nations, and other species.

Reviews

Jane Grant takes up the vital issue of our young century: what should be the set of rights and responsibilities that we owe each other as fellow citizens At a time of heightened worry about challenges both domestic and foreign, Grant intelligently opens up a welcome and overdue discussion. -- Jacob S. Hacker, Professor of Political Science. Yale University; co-author of Winner-Take-All Politics and American Amnesia"
The debate between liberalism and civic republicanism has receded to the background of political theory, but has never been resolved. In this exciting new book, Jane Grant reminds us why that debate once seemed crucial, and why we still need a political theory that can countenance both individual rights and civic responsibilities. Through careful examinations of many of the most pressing social issues of our day, Grant sets the terms for a new debate over the civic ethos of modern democracy. -- Robert B. Talisse

Author Bio

Jane Grant is associate professor in the Division of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.