Jane Addams and John Dewey Essay

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Jane Addams v. John Dewey

Theorists Jane Addams and John Dewey are American pragmatists since they are among the formative thinkers in the early 20th Century. These two theorists made significant contributions to the field of public administration and democracy based on the perspective of feminism. Jane Addams not only contributed to the political sphere where she was legally prohibited from involvement but also expressed and assisted in creating social and economic democracies (Shields, 2011, p.15). In contrast, John Dewey is regarded as one of the pioneers of deliberative democratic theory which has been characterized by explicit incorporation of a social criticism philosophy into his political theory. Addams and Dewey developed their theories following their aspirations for democracy; especially in relation to initiatives by the United States to enforce democracy in other places across the globe. As pragmatists, these two theorists contributed significantly to re-evaluation of the theory and practice of democracy.

Jane Addams' Work and Theory

Jane Addams is renowned for being the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize i.e. in 1931. She was born in Cedarville, Illinois and spent most of her adult life in Chicago but was a constant world traveler. During her time, Jane Addams became famous following her work as a founder of the most acclaimed settlement during the progressive era i.e. Hull House, which she co-founded with Ellen Gates Starr. Addams was a successful reformer who worked tirelessly to enact laws on child labor, develop juvenile courts, and create policies that would protect the public health. During this period, this theorist was a recognized feminist and assumed leadership positions in the suffrage movement.

Despite being an acknowledged feminist, Jane Addams major works do not necessarily highlight and stress her wider feminist perspective explicitly though she understood that men had dominated the theoretical perspectives through which people view the world and society. Based on this understanding, Jane Addams provided another perspective or theoretical lens of viewing the world i.e. incorporating feminist perspectives. In this case, she challenged the male vision of city authority and leadership using a coherent feminine version of public housekeeping, which acted as a potent source for theories regarding public administration. In this process, Jane Addams distinguished her concept of the city as household with men's militant perspective of the city as citadel (Shields, 2011, p.19). Even though the citadel perspective was once suitable, it had played a major role in creating the widespread mess that characterized late 19th Century Chicago. Therefore, if the city was viewed as a household in need of constant housekeeping, caring and cleanliness, most of its problems would be articulately dealt with and corrected.

This view was accompanied by arguments that city departments like sanitation and public health were relatively similar to the traditional chores of women. Therefore, women's role and experience as housekeepers provided them considerable knowledge and insights to address and correct problems of an overcrowded immigrant population, which was evident in the then society. Consequently, Jane Addams believed and advocated for women to be increasingly involved in creating solutions to the numerous problems in the city through their experience and knowledge as housekeepers. Some of these problems that Addams wanted women to participate in crafting solutions for them included rotting garbage, poisonous sewage, animal waste, and disturbing rates of infant mortality. During this period, public health was increasingly threatened by poor sanitation and poor waste management disposal systems whereas children were subjected to criminal justice systems that were designed for adults and industrialists utilized cheap and disorganized labor. Women and children were significantly affected by this male-dominated society since they were forced into oppressive labor. Generally, Jane Addams worked to correct these problems and rescue the situation using her feminine perspective to develop a different way of viewing problems and issues in the city.

John Dewey's Work and Theory

As previously mentioned, John Dewey is regarded as one of the pioneers of deliberative democratic theory given his explicitness in integrating a philosophy of social criticism into his political theory (Ackerly, 2000, p.7). The foundational component of Dewey's political and social criticism theories is his philosophy of human learning. John Dewey postulates that individuals and the society learn through listening to each other's ideas and then incorporating personal imagination from all possible angles and perspectives into developing one suggestion or recommendation. In his work, John Dewey argues that people and the society make decisions similarly since both are interested in making the best possible decisions as evaluated by their ability to combine relatively competing or opposing understandings.

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For people to engage equally and freely in democracy, they need to possess the necessary intellectual capacity and ability to do so. This implies ability to think freely, to discover, and to learn alongside others. Therefore, deliberation necessitates the ability to imagine i.e. the consideration of reactions that an individual's actions will generate from others as well as the probable impact of these actions. In addition to having the necessary intellectual capacities, people must acknowledge and value the collective life that enables and promote equal and free involvement of all. To this extent, John Dewey considers deliberation as the means through which people develop their ability to participate freely, valuably, and equally in their collective life, and it is the end of communal life.

Based on these views, the major aspect of Dewey's political philosophy is the developmental role of deliberation in people's capabilities to make significant inputs to communal life and the ability of the society to operate based on the collected understandings of its citizens. Moreover, Dewey postulates that the role of social critics in the society is to educate and encourage future citizens to be critical thinkers. Citizens must be challenged and encouraged to reflect critically and attentively on the current or new societal practices, values, and norms like the ever-increasing inequality in the society. This is primarily because such values, norms and practices may weaken the equality and freedom of liberal democracy.

According to Tiles (1992), John Dewey's interest in deliberation and tolerance was fueled by the widespread complex social and intellectual forces that fueled intolerance and individualism (p.149). During his time, the society was seemingly characterized by trends towards intolerance and racial strife, which had numerous negative effects on societal well-being. Through his theory, Dewey focused on dealing with the causes and identifying cures of intolerance and racial strife among his audiences. While Dewey and other progressives advocated for the establishment of schools that would change and reflect the real world, these schools rarely addressed the life experiences of minorities. Moreover, these institutions did not deal with institutional or social structures that promoted and contributed to academic and economic disadvantage as well as racism.

In addition to focusing on deliberation, Dewey also emphasized tolerance, which was a technique that was consistent with American values and desire for order amidst fear and stress. He viewed tolerance as an important technique for eliminating marginality and providing vital socialization and enculturation functions that would help in holding the society together. Through this process, Dewey tried to associate tolerance with a complete view and perspective of social change, especially in dealing with problems that had become common in the society and contributing to democracy.

Similarities between Both Theorists

Even though Jane Addams and John Dewey developed different theories, there are certain similarities between them. First, these theorists are similar in the fact that they were formative thinkers in the early 20th Century, which has resulted in their consideration as American pragmatists. As pragmatists, these theorists developed and introduced theories or formulations of democracy that have prompted re-evaluation of the meaning of democracy in the modern society and political environment (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, n.d.). Actually, Jane Addams and John Dewey developed pragmatic democracy based on their formative thinking.

The second similarity between Addams and Dewey is that their theories were largely influenced by their experiences in the society. In this case, Jane Addams developed her theory following her experiences of issues of her neighbors, which prompted her involvement in the labor movement and focus on reforming the local government and enhancing local schools. Similarly, John Dewey started to formulate his ideas on democracy and social issues after moving to Chicago and becoming part of Hull House (which was founded by Jane Addams) and other social movements in this region. Therefore, Addams and Dewey developed their theories because of the social issues they experienced in Chicago and their involvement in social movements like Hull House.

Third, Addams and Dewey capitalized on the shift from a national myth of individualism in America to develop their theories. In essence, these theories works came at a time when the nation was shifting from the notion of individualism across the country to increased awareness of social cooperation and equality that was required for life in a city environment. This period was also characterized by increased involvement of women in intellectual and public life because of the limits and disadvantages of individualistic liberalism.

Fourth, Addams and Dewey….....

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