Civic Intelligence in Context

When considering Civic Intelligence, it's important to consider the social mores of the times. For example, Jane Addams was a Nobel Peace Prize Winner. She was mostly known for her work in the Settlement movement and one could even say her life's work lead to what we now know today as social services. No one can deny this women did great things in the work of social justice. However despite her work towards social change many of her opinions on other things reflected the negative social mores of the times she lived in. In her famous book "Twenty Years at Hull House", Addams describes obvious rape in this way:

"The surprisingly large number of delinquent girls who have become criminally involved with their own fathers and uncles"

No mention of rape or blame on the men is even brought up in her work. Her real opinion, apparently, is that the sexual encounters were the young girls fault.

Addams ends chapter 13 in her book in this way "The moral of the tale was clear applied to people who lived "where they did not belong," although I protested that was exactly what we wanted--to be swallowed and digested, to disappear into the bulk of the people." I have to say there are a lot of things wrong with this statement from where we come from today in civic intelligence but working on our own social mores is something of much importance in our future work of civic intelligence.