The New State · Theme
Education for Social Citizenship and Group Life
How The New State develops Education for Social Citizenship and Group Life.
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.
Where it surfaces
- 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.
- XX: The Growth of Democracy in America
Implicitly present in the call for a 'living democracy of a united, responsible people' and the need to substitute fictitious democracy with a true understanding of the individual's social role.
- XXI: After Direct Government—What?
Calls for a different system of education and opportunities for intermingling to develop an educated and responsible citizenship that can evolve common ideas.
- An Integrated Neighborhood
The Community Centre movement provides training in democracy through group activities, classes, and self-government, preparing citizens for the new democracy.
- Neighborhood Organization vs. Party Organization II
Implied in the idea that neighborhood organization develops leaders who interpret and unify community needs, fostering democratic citizenship.
- XXVI: Neighborhood Organization vs. Party Organization III
Emphasizes that through neighborhood groups, men and women learn they are politics functioning, transforming duty into joyful service and community realization.
- XXVII: From Neighborhood to Nation: The Unifying State
The chapter emphasizes that participation in neighborhood groups teaches responsibility for the group and for the larger state, and that actual experience is necessary for solidarity.
- The Moral State and Creative Citizenship
Emphasizes that good citizenship is learned through practice in neighborhood groups, and that the leader's role is to help individuals discover their abilities for community needs.
- Appendix: The Training for the New Democracy
The entire appendix focuses on training for democracy through group-based education from childhood through adulthood, emphasizing interdependence, social consciousness, and continuous learning.
