21
ISSUES: Citizenship
Chapter 2: Active citizenship
Education can provide both the
opportunities and capabilities to make
active citizens of our young people
T
he general election once
again showed the extent of
yawning divide in terms of
political participation between older
and younger citizens. James Sloam
and Ben Kisby reflect on the extent
to which young people (dis)engage
from politics. By analysing data from
the European Social Survey (ESS), they
conclude that educational institutions
are a vital factor in influencing young
people’s levels of disengagement.
Much attention has been paid by
academics and policy-makers in
recent decades to declining levels
of voter turnout and engagement
with traditional political and social
institutions in established democracies
– from political parties to trade unions
to religious organisations. These
trends are particularly marked among
young people. Nevertheless, a number
of authors have, more positively,
pointed to the proliferation of youth
participation in a myriad of alternative
forms of engagement. If we take a
broad look at political participation –
focussing on what young people are
actually doing rather than what they
are not doing – it is in fact possible
to conclude that the Millennial
Generation are at least as politically
active as previous generations. In this
sense, they continue to have a voice.
However, these changes inpolitical and
civic engagement raise new questions
about inequalities in participation and
the nature of political socialisation.
1
Young people have increasingly
become ‘standby citizens’ who engage
from time to time with political issues
that hold meaning for their everyday
lives.
2
In general, they are attracted
to intermittent, non-institutionalised,
issue-based, horizontal forms of
engagement and repelled by the
1 Sloam, J. (2014)
New Voice, Less Equal: The Civic
and Political Engagement of Young People in the
United States and Europe
, Comparative Political
Studies, 47(5): 663-688.
2 Amnå, E. and Ekman, J. (2014)
Standby citizens:
diverse faces of political passivity
, European
Political Science Review, 6(2): 261-281.
thought of long-term commitment
through formal institutions with
broader policy goals and entrenched
hierarchies. As well as young people’s
repertoires of participation having
changed, the political arenas in which
they operate have also become more
diverse, including, in particular, online
social networks. The rise of the Internet
and new social media has enabled a
quickening of political participation
that promotes real-time engagement
in politics and non-hierarchical forms
of mobilisation.
Whereas voting is generally considered
to be a relatively socially equal political
act (at least in Western Europe, this
is much less so in the United States),
the same, however, cannot be said for
alternative forms of engagement, such
as signing a petition, joining a boycott,
participating in a demonstration,
or utilising new social media.
Recent research suggests that social
inequalities are significantly increased
in non-electoral forms of political
engagement. Since young people
are more likely to engage in these
non-electoral forms of participation
than older cohorts, our concern is
with whether this translates into
political participation that is less
socially equal for young Europeans,
and we are interested in what role
education might play in mitigating
these inequalities. The literature
on civic and citizenship education
suggests that personal efficacy plays a
key role in actualising young people’s
politics, whereby the political literacy,
democratic skills and self-confidence
of young citizens are of fundamental
importance.
3
Drawing on the most recent data
available fromESS, which is undertaken
every two years, we have found that
being in education significantly boosts
young people’s civic and political
3 Kisby, B. (2012)
The Labour party and
citizenship education: policy networks and the
introduction of citizenship lessons in schools
,
(Manchester: Manchester University Press).
participation helping neutralise the
differences between high-income and
low-income groups with regard to
such participation.
Data shows that:
Ö
Young people, here 18- to
21-year-olds, are less engaged
in traditional, electoral politics
(especiallyvoting) than thegeneral
population, but as engaged in
other forms of participation.
Being in education clearly matters
a great deal because those in
education are more active than
the general population in all forms
of participation except voting and
contact (although the gap here
is not that large) and have higher
levels of social and political trust.
Ö
18- to 21-year-olds in higher
education have similar levels of
engagement in electoral politics
as the mean figure for all ages, but
are much more likely to engage
in all other forms of participation
than the general population.
They also have higher levels of
social and political trust than the
general population and are much
more likely to sign petitions,
participate in demonstrations and
join boycotts than 18-21 year olds
not in higher education.
Ö
Being
in
education
boosts
participation for 18–21s in almost
all
political
acts,
especially
for those from low income
backgrounds,
who
actually
outperform those from high
income backgrounds in education
for working for an organisation
or association, signing a petition,
going on a demonstration, or
participating in a boycott. It also
shows that 18- to 21-year-olds
in education from low income
backgrounds outperform those
from high income backgrounds
who are not in education on
these measures, as well as being
significantly more likely to vote.
