Volunteers silence political problems to keep the empowering feeling alive
Evidence
Investigating the footing means asking what members assume “‘being a member” requires; what kinds of talk and silence members consider appropriate for that context; whether talk is considered important at all or whether there is another, more non-verbal way of establishing a sense of companionship. That 1s, what does the very act of speaking itself mean to them? Until I assessed the ""footing” in the volunteer high school parents’ groups, I could not figure out why they ignored the political problems that they inevitably — encountered in the course of their work — the race riots, caved-in classroom ceilings and flooded classroom floors at the high school, for example. By tuning into their political manners, I realized that volunteers assumed that volunteer groups exist to show that regular citizens really can make a difference, and that talking about these problems would sink the buoyant feeling of empowerment. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 182
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s prior research: her own ‘close to home’ volunteer study and theories of civic empowerment vs actual problem-solving. — connects to: Volunteer-style charity work forfeits the power to define public issues — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 137; Volunteers suppress political talk because it would sink their feeling of empowerment; Volunteers silence political discussion to preserve their can-do optimism — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 204 (+11 more)
- ADDENDUM: Supports the argument about how positive shared projects build solidarity — here showing the cost is silence about real problems.
Broader Connections
- Volunteers suppress political talk because it would sink their feeling of empowerment
#corroborates(0.98) - Volunteers silence political discussion to preserve their can-do optimism
#corroborates(0.95) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 204 - Volunteers themselves restrict political talk to preserve their civic faith
#corroborates(0.95) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 192 - Volunteers deliberately shrink concerns into unpolitical tasks to sustain a message of hope
#expands(0.95) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 191 - Volunteer groups suppress political talk even though members privately care
#corroborates(0.94) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 192 - Civic volunteers suppress political worry publicly despite private obsession with it
#corroborates(0.93) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 285 - Volunteer groups suppress politically troubling topics to protect group cheer
#corroborates(0.92) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 96 - Volunteers welcomed structured political discussion despite avoiding it informally.
#contradicts(0.90) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 100 - Volunteers spontaneously raised environmental and racial concerns rather than avoiding them
#contradicts(0.90) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 64 - Even politically engaged volunteer groups avoid discussing the substance of public issues
#corroborates(0.88) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 213 - Volunteers frame political talk as morally exclusionary of ordinary less-eloquent people.
#qualifies(0.75) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 102