The New State · Question
How does The New State develop the theme of Education for Social Citizenship and Group Life?
Answer
The New State by Mary Parker Follett develops Education for Social Citizenship and Group Life across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book emphasizes that democracy and group consciousness must be learned from childhood through cooperative education, group recitations, and self-governing activities, replacing individual competition with training in interdependence and collective responsibility.
Learning the process of creating the common will in groups is presented as essential for democratic citizenship.
Implied in the call for individuals to participate in evolving collective standards and to live the life that enables full interplay of ideas.
The chapter implies that understanding the true nature of individuality is essential for social and political progress, which is a foundation for education in group life.
Evidence in the book
- V: The Group Process: The Collective Will
Learning the process of creating the common will in groups is presented as essential for democratic citizenship.
- VI: The Unity of the Social Process
Implied in the call for individuals to participate in evolving collective standards and to live the life that enables full interplay of ideas.
- VII: The Individual
The chapter implies that understanding the true nature of individuality is essential for social and political progress, which is a foundation for education in group life.
- VIII: Who Is the Free Man?
The chapter calls for training every child from the cradle in group consciousness to achieve spontaneous freedom.
- IX: The New Individualism
Emphasizes the need to learn the method of real cooperation and to evolve collective thought and will through participation.
- XI: The Self-and-Others Illusion
The chapter implies that people must learn to think in wholes, as seen in the critique of the Boston girl's education in altruism and the need for a new social ideal.
- The Crowd Fallacy
The chapter calls for a new psychology that points the way to what we may become, moving from herd instinct to the group imperative.
- The Group Principle at Work
The chapter highlights the shift in education from individual development to fitting the child into community life, through group classroom work, vocational training, and continuous education.
