Bowling Ninepins in Tocqueville's Township

Death of a planning department: Challenges for regionalism in a weak mandate state

“…Yet, at least in the United States, the vast majority of planning is still performed by local governments. A strong system of local governments has been idealized as the cornerstone of American democracy going as far back as Jefferson (Griswold, 1946;Gannett, 2003). The New England town hall meeting and the Midwestern six-mile-by-sixmile township represent a direct, handcrafted democracy with strong roots in the agrarian past.…”

Citizenship in Civil Society?

“…In this perspective it is argued that there can be no democratic social structure, penetrating into all institutions of society, without civil society that is able to include citizens in townships and moral and intellectual associations (Gannett, 2003). From a civic viewpoint, civil associations that are organized for socioeconomic purposes or for entertainment demand less from their associates than they are capable of achieving as citizens (Lasch, 1991, pp.…”

Recreation and Participation: Testing the Political Impact of Social Interaction*

“…Despite the expansion and enrichment of social capital research, many aspects of this theory are debated . Particularly troublesome to some critics is the relationship between social recreational activities—such soccer clubs and bird‐watching clubs—and political participation (Gannett, ).…”

“…With so many subelements constituting social capital, many feel that the term is a grab bag without any true meaning. Chiefly, the relationships between the various dimensions of social capital are critiqued for being undertheorized (Gannett, ). This project is intended to clarify a common misunderstanding of social capital theory, the relationship between informal recreation and political participation.…”

“…Crucial in the process of operationalizing social capital is an important theoretical debate concerning the political impact of informal human social interaction, such as soccer clubs or bowling leagues. Some scholars critique the social capital literature for conflating recreational or other informal interaction with more serious political participation (see Gannett, ). Social interaction, however, is proposed to be beneficial because it increases political participation.…”