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Connor Barwin's Civic Season

This week, the all-pro linebacker and citizen activist measures how our civic health stacks up against Boston

This week, our win over New England on Sunday prompts an off-field comparison with that region’s most important city, Boston. It’s a comparison that has been made before, most notably by the legendary University of Pennsylvania sociologist E. Digby Baltzell in his groundbreaking book, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia: Two Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Class Authority and Leadership.

“Baltzell argued that the Calvinists who founded Boston had a strong belief in hierarchy that resulted in a strong civic culture where the elites understood they had an important civic role to play,” says Professor Richardson Dilworth of Drexel’s Center for Public Policy. “They were leaders in the community, not just of their respective industries. Philadelphia’s Quaker roots, on the other hand, gave rise to a radical egalitarianism where no one wanted to be an elite and, to the extent that they were, they didn’t see it as encompassing as much of a civic obligation.”

In part, Dilworth observes, that’s why so many of our leaders have come from outside Philadelphia. “Ben Franklin came here from Boston,” he points out. “Ed Rendell came from New York. My grandfather [legendary reformer mayor Richardson Dilworth] came from Pittsburgh.”

Unlike Philadelphia and many Northeastern cities, Boston has had an amazing ability to change with the times, as documented in “Reinventing Boston: 1640-2003,” by Harvard economist Ed Glaeser. “Boston was the mercantile trading hub for the colonies at our founding,” Dilworth says, “and then it became an industrial hub. Now, in the 21st Century, it has reinvented itself once again as a high-tech, information age city, thanks to its vast educational resources.”

But Dilworth points out that there’s one area where Boston hasn’t historically measured up: Race relations. “Ever since the city refused to accept the integration of schools after Brown v. Board of Ed, Boston has shown a history of racial intolerance far greater than in Philadelphia and unique among Northeastern cities,” he says.

Next week we take on Buffalo.

Results

Philadelphia

Eagles

vs

Boston (New England)

Patriots

% BA or higher

24.4

7 POINTS

Patriots

% BA or higher

43.8

% Below poverty

27.2

7 POINTS

Patriots

% Below poverty

22.1

% Bike to work

2.1

7 POINTS

Eagles

% Bike to work

1.9

% Moved to city in past year

4.6

7 POINTS

Patriots

% Moved to city in past year

10.9

Violent crime per 1,000 residents

11.0

7 POINTS

Patriots

Violent crime per 1,000 residents

7.8

% Volunteer

26.2

7 POINTS

Eagles

% Volunteer

25.8

% Voted in last mayoral election

25.5

7 POINTS

Eagles

% Voted in last mayoral election

14

Income Inequality Index

.51

7 POINTS

Eagles

Income Inequality Index

.54

% of population aged 22 to 34

22.5

7 POINTS

Patriots

% of population aged 22 to 34

28.74

Final Score

28

Boston (New England)

Patriots

Final Score

35

Sep. 14
21-35

Falcons

Falcons

Sep. 20
21-42

Cowboys

Cowboys

Sep. 27
28-35

Jets

Jets

Oct. 04
14-42

Redskins

Redskins

Oct. 11
21-42

Saints

Saints

Oct. 19
28-35

Giants

Giants

Oct. 25
21-35

Panthers

Panthers

Nov. 08
21-42

Cowboys

Cowboys

Nov. 15
56-0

Eagles

Dolphins

Nov. 22
35-28

Eagles

Buccaneers

Nov. 26
42-7

Eagles

Lions

Dec. 06
28-35

Patriots

Patriots

Dec. 13
42-21

Eagles

Bills

Oct. 19
35-28

Eagles

Cardinals

Dec. 26
14-42

Redskins

Redskins

Jan. 03
35-28

Eagles

Giants

Civic Record:

EAGLES

Wins

5

Losses

7

Upcoming Games:

Data compiled by Ken Gross, Quantitative Innovations.

All data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey 2011-2013 except: Volunteer rates; crime stats.

Voter turnout rates from Philadelphia’s 2015 general election; Boston’s 2015 general election.

More info on the GINI Index of Income Inequality.

* All team logos are property of the NFL and their respective franchises.

Homepage photo: Brian Garfinkel/Philadelphia Eagles

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