Youth Civic Engagement:

An Institutional Turn

Edited by
Peter Levine
University of Maryland
plevine@umd.edu

James Youniss
Catholic University of America
youniss@cua.edu

CIRCLE WORKING PAPER 45

FEBRUARY 2006
CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Peter Levine and James Youniss..................................................................................... 3

What schools should do to prepare students for democracy

William Damon........................................................................................................... 7

A Modest Proposal
William A. Galston........................................................................................................ 9

Youth At-Risk for Non-Participation

James G. Gimpel and J. Celeste Lay.............................................................................. 10

The Social Psychological Implications of Political Conflict

Diana C. Mutz............................................................................................................. 16

Youth and Political Institutions

Joel Westheimer........................................................................................................... 19

Some Overlooked Contextual Factors

Peter Levine.................................................................................................................. 22

City Designs: Building Municipal Systems for Youth Civic Engagement

Carmen Sirianni........................................................................................................... 27

The Lifeworlds of Young People and Civic Engagement

Lewis A. Friedland and Shauna Morimoto........................................................................ 37

Three Points Relevant to Research on Youth Engagement

Jane Junn................................................................................................................... 40

Reconceptualization of Political Participation and Responsibility-Taking

Dietlind Stole in collaboration with Michele Micheletti and Marc Hooghe............................... 44

How Structures Influence the Politics of Engagement: Some Possibilities for Research
Joseph Kahne.............................................................................................................. 47

Proposals for Sustaining the Turnout Surge

Jane Eisner................................................................................................................ 49

Civic Engagement in Youth from Low Income Neighborhoods:

The Influence of Youth Bulges, Institutions, and Poverty
Daniel Hart................................................................................................................ 51

Reshaping a Developmental Theory for Political-Civic Development

James Youniss............................................................................................................ 53

Community Colleges
Constance A. Flanagan................................................................................................. 55
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

YOUTH AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION: rewarding and welcome. The problem is not always
inside young people’s heads; sometimes they are
INTRODUCTION
right to avoid participation in the processes and
PETER LEVINE AND JAMES YOUNISS
institutions that exist for them. For similar reasons,
it is important to study (and perhaps to change)
In 1790, Condorcet observed that every generation
their ordinary, daily experiences, assumptions, and
accuses itself of being less-civic minded that its
expectations.
predecessors.1 Perhaps that concern is always
appropriate, because citizens are made, not
As we critically examine institutions and cultures,
born; it takes deliberate efforts to prepare young
however, we should keep in mind William
people to participate effectively and wisely in
Damon’s caution. Youth, he notes, tend to define
public life. In any case, we have specific reasons
“democracy” as a system of perfect equality where
to be concerned about youth civic engagement
everyone is free to do as he or she likes. In fact,
today, including low scores on assessments of civic
there are trade-offs between equality and freedom;
knowledge, weakening social trust, dropping rates
and even taken separately, each value is utopian.
of membership in traditional organizations, low and
Thus the goal is not to make institutions meet the
falling efficacy, and a long decline in voter turnout
sometimes unrealistic expectations of youth, but to
from 1972 to 2002.
hold them to reasonable standards.
The papers in this collection were written by
2. COMPETITIVENESS AND CONTROVERSY IN
an interdisciplinary group to address two main
POLITICS
questions: What conditions deter young people’s
involvement in politics and civic life? What reforms
Elections provide an important topic for institutional
could enhance youth engagement? Most of the
analysis. Data indicate that when elections are
contributors met face-to-face in Washington, DC in
closely contested, the competition energizes
March 2005 to discuss their papers and the general
political discussion and citizens’ involvement. There
issue of youth civic engagement. The meeting
is reason to think that the mobilizing effects of
was funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York
electoral competition are particularly important
through a grant to the Life Cycle Institute at
for young people. (See the papers by Gimpel and
Catholic University of America. CIRCLE (The Center
Lay and Galston for details.) However, in recent
for Information & Research on Civic Learning
years, sophisticated drawing of electoral districts
& Engagement) was a partner in planning the
has reduced competitiveness and, consequently,
meeting.2
diminished citizens’ interest and involvement.

The following were some major themes in the

Electoral reform can be handled in many ways,
papers and discussion. Although these points
ranging from nonpartisan districting commissions
were not endorsed by everyone in the group, they
and the allocation of Electoral College votes on a
provoked conversation and captured significant
proportional basis (as Galston advocates), to more
support.
radical changes such as proportional representation
and multi-member districts. The law of unintended
1. AN INSTITUTIONAL TURN
consequences applies to all such proposals. Thus
how to reform elections in order to increase youth
Research, policy, and practice regarding youth civic
participation is a critical but unsettled question.3
engagement should consider not only direct efforts
to change young people’s civic skills, knowledge,
Competition and debate mobilize people at the
and behavior (for example, through civic education
scale of states and electoral districts, where most
or voter mobilization), but also reforms of
participants do not know one another. However,
institutions that might make participation more
as Diana Mutz shows, a diversity of opinions can
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

discourage participation in smaller associations, a new Youth Center may also provide programs
neighborhoods, and families, “in part because of once it is built.
the social awkwardness that comes from publicly
talking a stand that friends or associates may 3. INDIVIDUALIZED RISK
oppose.” One answer is deliberately to teach young
people how to discuss controversial issues with Lewis Friedland and Shauna Morimoto have found
civility. But, as Joel Westheimer argues, the general that teenagers’ “lifeworld”—their daily experiences
political climate is such that teachers and schools and assumptions—involve an acute sense of
prefer to avoid discussion of controversial topics individualized risk. Students see their choices and
at the risk of removing politics from civics and individual performance as having high economic
losing opportunities for acknowledging diversity in stakes. Opportunities may have increased for
a context where mutual understanding could be many people over the last 30 years, but so have
advanced. the consequences of failure. Adolescents may
feel that they face these choices alone because of
Another response to the problem that Mutz the relative weakness of families, neighborhoods,
describes is to make sure there are various forms religious congregations, and voluntary associations.
of political engagement—some competitive and
adversarial, others consensual and aimed at solving As Junn argues, a competitive educational system
shared problems. Citizens should be able to choose teaches an “ideology of meritocracy, by grading
among these forms of engagement at appropriate on normal curves and assuring those who finish
times. Together, all the forms should create a rich on the right tail that they will succeed because
civic “ecosystem.” they deserve to.” Contributors to this volume
presumably disagree about that ideology. Some
Some political engagement addresses major may see it as valuable, at least if opportunities to
policy issues that are ultimately decided by succeed are not distributed unfairly. Others argue
legislative votes, court decisions, and referenda. In that competitive meritocracy conflicts with civic
considering these issues (e.g., taxation, welfare, goals. For example, in an economic system driven
war, or the right to abortion), people fall into by choice and risk, young people may act out
ideological groups that are represented by major civic roles for instrumental purposes without an
organizations and parties. Voting is a citizen’s main accompanying commitment. High school students
source of power. Debating, organizing, petitioning, are increasingly likely to volunteer, but Friedland
and raising consciousness are important, but they and Morimoto find that the reason is often their
count only insofar as they change votes. Free and sense that volunteering looks good on college
fair elections are what make this level of politics applications.
democratic.
A situation of pervasive choice, opportunity, and
There is another level of politics—most common risk may also promote fluid identities, as individuals
at the local level and within institutions—that expect to move from one to another job or career,
involves direct participation in problem-solving. At especially during formative years in the work force.
this level, many of the people who will be directly This situation could account for well-documented
affected by a decision should personally participate increases in materialism and decreases in social
in deliberations about it. The same people who trust among young Americans. It could help explain
meet and talk about an issue can also implement young people’s preference for loose networks over
their own decisions. For example, in Hampton, VA, disciplined organizations (see below). Finally, the
as Carmen Sirianni describes, youth commissioners drive to enhance students’ individual value in the
are involved in local deliberations, policymaking, labor market may encourage schools to emphasize
and service. The same students who decide to build reading, math, and science at the expense of

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

social studies, civics, and participation in local normative democratic theory to bear in deciding
communities. whether their ideas are satisfactory.

One policy option that was discussed—although Some argue that the new loose networks cannot
without resolution—was the idea of reorganizing overcome collective-action problems and influence
American high schools (see Levine paper). When political authorities, which remain important even
large, anonymous schools offer many courses, in an age of globalized markets. Thus, Jane Eisner
career tracks, extracurricular activities, and social argues that youth would benefit from a relatively
cliques, they maximize competition and individual traditional lobby that represented their interests
high-stakes choice for their students. An alternative before the state and national governments: an
worthy of consideration is to create small high “AARP for youth.”
schools—or multiple “learning communities” within
high schools—in which students are encouraged to 5. IMMIGRANT AND MINORITY YOUTH
know one another and work collaboratively.
Immigrant and minority youth settings pose still
4. NEW ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS further challenges to engagement. They are
infrequent targets of political mobilization and lack
Political and civic behavior continually seeks resources that other kinds of youth accrue by way
new forms. Just as televised debates between of location or education. As Daniel Hart shows, poor
candidates replaced fireside chats on the radio, young people often come of age in communities
emergent forms of involvement are taking root with strikingly low ratios of adults to youth, thus
today. For example, Dietlind Stolle is exploring reducing the odds that they can receive adult
the new consumer-based politics in which people guidance and support. Since political attitudes and
organize to boycott or “buycott” (choose to an orientation toward civic life are often formed
purchase) goods such as food and clothing for during youth, it is important to seek remedies that
normative and political reasons. Young people would lead to their inclusion.
predominate in these efforts.
An emerging body of research indicates that
Consumer groups can be formed quickly poor youth are amenable to direct political
through vehicles like the internet that connect socialization through programs that offer political
geographically dispersed individuals on the basis skills for addressing problems pertinent to their
of shared ethical and political purpose. The new lives, for example, improving schools and local
groups may be marked by loose rather than tightly neighborhoods. Youth who otherwise appear
monitored networks; they are horizontal instead of uninterested gain political competence and begin
hierarchically organized; they allow ready entrance to act collectively once they understand their
and exit instead of demanding stable loyalty; and interests and learn how to advance them in the
they may be transactional rather than ends in public political debate. Jane Eisner and Jim Youniss
themselves. describe successful efforts to organize youth that
illustrate this potential.
The new forms of association raise important
and unresolved questions. Do they replace or As Constance Flanagan notes, the community
complement older forms? How much political college system is another underutilized avenue for
power can they mobilize? What are their effects on instilling political skills and interests. By definition,
political socialization? Joe Kahne suggests that the community colleges reach a large segment of
“new student politics” has its own ideologies and youth who decades ago might have been civically
assumptions. We should listen to how young people socialized on the job through union membership or
define and defend their behavior, and then bring work-related identity. Because community colleges
are funded locally and are typically connected
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

to the economic engines of the surrounding

jurisdiction, they have unique opportunities to
integrate educational experiences with everyday life
in an ethos of civic responsibility.

_________
ENDNOTES
1 Cited in Dietlind Stolle and Marc Hooghe,
“Emerging Repertoires of Political Action? A Review
of the Debate in Participation Trends in Western
Societies,” paper presented at the ECPR Joint
Sessions, April 13-18, 2004.

2 In addition to the authors of papers in this

anthology, the following people contributed to
the discussion at the Washington, DC meeting:
Lene Jensen, Catholic University; Hugh McIntosh,
Catholic University; Brendan Martin, an
undergraduate student; and Judith Torney-Purta,
University of Maryland.

3 For a recent collective analysis by 19 political

scientists, see Stephen Macedo et al., Democracy
at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen
Participation, and What We Can Do About It
(Washington, DC, Brookings Institution Press
2005).

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

WHAT SCHOOLS SHOULD DO TO PREPARE What does democracy mean to young people
today? If you ask this to a group of high school
STUDENTS FOR DEMOCRACY
students, you will get the following answers (this
WILLIAM DAMON
is easily replicable - try it, it’s fascinating to do).
First of all, most students will say that a democracy
The institution that I shall discuss is the
is a place where people are equal. They will mean
school, and the problem that I shall focus on is
by this a wholly naive notion of equality. That is,
preparing students for constructive participation
they mean it quite literally: everyone is or should
in a democracy. My comments are addressed to
be equal in a democracy. This idea leads to the
contemporary schooling generally rather to any
conclusion that a democracy is a place where
particular context or grade level, since there are
people become equal. In fact, this becomes a
failures in citizenship education all throughout our
kind of moral imperative for a democracy: it
society’s institutions of learning.
should make people equal. This, of course, is an
idea that is not only unrealistic but would have
Part of the problem is that there has been too
bemused any of the Founding Fathers. The problem
little systematic discussion in the educational
is that too few of our students have learned the
community regarding what young people must
kind of understanding necessary to realize that a
learn in order to function well in a democracy. Of
successful democracy can make people equal under
course I am aware of the many current efforts to
the law but it cannot make people equal in fact,
re-energize the teaching of civics, and there is
and systems that attempt to do that usually stray
some good work being done in related areas such
from democratic principles.
as moral and character education. But work on
citizenship education itself is piecemeal and poorly
Second, students may say that a democracy is a
distributed across the educational landscape.
system where everyone has an equal say. Rarely
Many of the essential concepts and habits that
will you find a student who knows that we live in
constructive democratic participation requires have
a democratic republic, where in fact we do not
been overlooked entirely. In addition, there has
all have equal say in the sense that the student
been little effort to reflect on the real problem of
assumes. Nor will the student be able to define
how ideological biases may affect such efforts, or
what a republic is, or how a republic functions to
even how the political views of teachers should be
implement democratic principles in a particular
handled when such material is taught.
way.
Among the concepts that have not been adequately
Third, a lot of youngsters will say that a democracy
addressed by education at any level in our society
is a place where people are free to do whatever
are: political freedom; equal rights under the law;
they want as long as it doesn’t hurt other people.
the distinct nature of a democratic republic; the
A democracy is a place where people don’t boss
economic costs and benefits of political choices; the
you around, where there is “self-governance.” In
need for checks and balances; and the meaning
this way, the notion of liberty comes in. But once
and importance of patriotism. This is but a small
again, this is a naive way of thinking, placing
selection of the essential ideas that underlie our
liberty in opposition to authority and assuming
particular social system: they are ideas that
that self-governance literally means that everyone
evolved over generations of struggle and debate
governs themselves. I have yet to see a course
and that are crucial to the preservation of our
of instruction in American schools that explains
democratic way of life. I note these particular
the ways in which certain forms of authority are
concepts here because in my own research I have
necessary for the preservation of liberty or that
found many of today’s young to be ignorant of
even discusses the central notion of legitimate
them.
authority and what it means.

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In much of education today, American history and

Likewise with the other concepts that I have noted social studies are taught from a mostly critical
above. The economic understanding of American perspective. Now there is nothing wrong with a
students is abysmal. Of course, so is that of adults critical perspective per se; and it is very important
- witness the way costly legislation is passed that young people come to know the failings and
without accounting for the expenses in case after the mistakes that our society has made and how
case. The problem clearly is that we are not we can do better. But there are matters of context
preparing students to cope with economic realities. and development sequence that come into play:
Recently I heard about a high school social studies that is, placing criticism in a meaningful context
class that “voted” to refrain from buying diamond and presenting it after one has properly explained
jewelry and to ask their parents to do the same the thing being criticized (including its virtues). Too
because of the poor working conditions of diamond many students today learn all about what is wrong
miners. From what I could tell, there was no with our society without gaining any knowledge of
discussion of what costs these same miners and our society’s great moral successes.
their families might bear if the diamond industry
contracted - or even of how and when boycotts To establish a sound cognitive and affective
actually might work. Rather than dealing with foundation for citizenship education, schools need
the hard and complex realities of the economic to begin with the positive, to emphasize reasons
principles at stake, the class had simply indulged for caring enough about our democratic society to
itself in what might have seemed an emotionally participate in it and to improve it. Schools need
satisfying protest - not exactly preparation for to foster a sympathetic understanding of the
effective political participation. history and workings of our democratic republic
- an understanding informed by all the facts and
The final, and most serious, problem that I will energized by a spirit of patriotism.
mention has to do with the capacity for positive
feelings towards one’s society, with a sense of
attachment, a sense of affiliation, and a sense of
purpose fostered by one’s role as citizen. This is
an emotional capacity that, since the time of the
ancient Greeks, has been known as patriotism.
This is not a familiar word in most educational
circles. In fact, I would guess that patriotism is the
most politically-incorrect word in education today.
If you think it’s hard to talk about morality and
values in schools, try talking about patriotism. You
really can’t get away with it without provoking an
argument or, at the least, a curt change of subject.
Teachers too often confuse a patriotic love of
country with the kind of militaristic chauvinism that
20th Century dictators used to justify warfare and
manipulate their own masses. They do not seem to
realize that it was the patriotic resistance to these
dictatorships, by citizens of democratic republics
such as our own, that saved the world from tyranny
in the past century and is the best hope of doing so
in the future.

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A MODEST PROPOSAL least dominant incumbent won 58 percent of the

vote. I call this the “perfect gerrymander.”
WILLIAM A. GALSTON

I want to suggest a two-step strategy of

As we know, voting among young adults rose
institutional reform that could dramatically increase
significantly in 2004. While turnout was up
the competitiveness of US elections at both the
across the board, it rose especially sharply in the
state and national levels.
“battleground” states. In fact, the gap between
youth turnout in battleground versus non-
Step One. Today, there are more competitive
battleground states was larger than the comparable
congressional races in the tiny state of Iowa than
gap for older voters.
in California and Illinois combined. The reason:
Iowa took the redistricting process out of the hands
The most plausible interpretation of these results is
of state legislators and placed it in a nonpartisan
that young voters respond strongly to two principal
council dominated by retired judges. Recently,
electoral forces --- mobilization and competition.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed
In practice, the two are linked: parties, candidates,
the same system for his state, and others are
and outside groups are more likely to devote
following suit. If this became a new national norm,
resources to mobilizing voters when they believe
it would heighten competition and participation in
that their efforts could make a difference. It
national and state legislative races.
follows, I believe, that young people would be
more likely to participate in electoral politics if our
Step Two. At the presidential level, candidates
elections were more competitive.
and parties ignore two-thirds of the states because
the winner-take-all method of awarding states’
Many scholars have observed that in recent
electoral votes reduces to political nullity the
decades, many elections have become less
impact of the minority party’s pockets of strength
competitive. Some of this reflects population
in states whose vote the majority party dominates
shifts, as people who can choose where to live
in the aggregate. A simple constitutional
increasingly associate with others of like mind. In
amendment could change this. Suppose all states
the 2004 election, fully 60 percent of all counties
were required to do what only Maine and Nebraska
gave more than 60 percent of their vote to either
now do --- award their two (senatorial) electoral
the Democratic or Republican candidate, compared
votes to the majority or plurality winner, and the
to 53 percent in 2003 and only 38 percent in 1996.
remainder of their electoral votes to the winner
of each congressional district. In combination
Declining competitiveness reflects, as well, the
with redistricting along the lines of Step One, this
hardening of ideological differences. In the 2004
constitutional change would transform areas of
election, fewer than one-third of the states were
nearly every state into competitive battlegrounds,
actively contested. No one imagined that the
increasing incentives for mobilization and
Democrats could do well in Mississippi, or the
enhancing the prospects for participation, especially
Republicans in New York.
among mobilization-sensitive young adults.
But this trend also reflects political engineering.
Making use of sophisticated technology and
data sets, the parties have become ever more
skillful at drawing district lines for Congress and
state legislatures so as to create safe seats for
incumbents of both parties. In 2002, for example,
incumbents ran for reelection in 50 out of the 53
California congressional districts. All 50 won. The

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YOUTH AT-RISK FOR NON-PARTICIPATION attitudes, like those favoring engagement, are
intergenerationally transmitted. It is easy to argue
JAMES G. GIMPEL AND J. CELESTE LAY
that parents should assume more responsibility
for civically educating their children, but getting
Our findings from Cultivating Democracy (2003)1, from here to there is not a wide and straight path.
and from our follow-up studies currently in One of the only places where good citizenship can
progress, have reinforced much of the previous be modeled for children who live in communities
research that has identified poorly socialized characterized by bad citizenship is school. Several
populations. Among those most at risk for non- of the stimuli to good citizenship are directly
participation are African Americans, Latinos, the manipulable by education policymakers, including
poor and those living in single-parent households, social studies education content and aspects
the children of the foreign-born, women, those with of school climate. We believe that excellent
low educational aspirations, those living in non- classroom instruction about government and
competitive or low-turnout political environments, politics is critical for building knowledge. But
the non-religious, those who are not attentive exposure to civics-related coursework is not
to news media, students who avoid or simply are enough to make more than a marginal difference
not exposed to discussions of politics, and those for the vast majority of students. Far more
who dislike their government-related courses and important to predicting knowledge and discussion
otherwise doubt that school authorities treat them is whether students acquire a liking for the
fairly. For the respondents who possess more subject matter. Students who disliked the study of
than a few of these risk factors, the likelihood of government scored as much as 20 points lower on
nonparticipation as an adult is exceedingly high. our political knowledge test than others. School-
For the respondents who possess only two or based reforms directed at increasing students’
three of these traits, there is the possibility that exposure to social studies, but not directed toward
the presence of positive forces in an adolescent’s reshaping the content of these courses to make
environment may neutralize or overcome the ones them more stimulating, will not accomplish much.
that diminish participatory impulses.
Our research indicates that the educational policy
Imagine that each risk factor is a kind of weight discussion needs to be shifted from curriculum
that adds to the inertia holding one away from requirements toward the development of
moving toward the goal of responsible citizenship customized curriculum content and improvement
(Plutzer 2002). Those most heavily burdened may of instructional style. Experiments with curriculum
never reach the point where they even register to reform, mentoring, guidance, and instructional
vote, much less volunteer for a campaign. The method may go a long way toward uncovering
most burdened citizens possess a sufficiently high techniques for teaching government that can
number of risk factors that non-involvement is compensate for living in neighborhoods with
the most likely outcome. Others may possess poor involvement. Ensuring that social studies
some of the risk factors, but positive forces in personnel have interest in and knowledge related
their environment, such as stimulating political to classroom instruction is still another means for
campaigns, and adult models of participation, can ensuring better citizenship education.
help to overcome the factors that otherwise predict
cynicism. Exposure to television news and the amount of
political discussion about current events may
Mitigating these sources of poor socialization is a also be subject to curriculum modification. News
responsibility of parents. However, if parents were media exposure, we have learned, is a stimulus
completely adequate to the task, we would not for political discussion, but does not contribute
have such widespread non-participation among directly to the basic factual knowledge that we
young adults in the first place. Non-participatory
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were testing. But news sources may be a source of high school adolescents remain destined for
of information gains that we did not capture in our perfectly respectable working lives as metro
survey. Several studies have documented that bus drivers, stay-at-home parents, food service
citizens do learn about politics from exposure to workers, longshoremen and bank tellers. If the
television campaign advertising (Ansolabehere and only path to civic engagement is through formal
Iyengar 1995). And discussion is causally linked education, we might as well give up on these
to knowledge, so television news is not completely citizens ever passing muster, to say nothing
without value as a tool for learning via the medium of those who wind up below them in society’s
of interpersonal exchange. We conclude that socioeconomic strata.
exposure to television news can compensate for
aspects of an adolescent’s environment that have Perhaps the connection between citizenship and
a depressing effect on discussion and knowledge, formal education has been overemphasized – to
such as living in a low-turnout area with no political the point where we fail to consider other avenues
party mobilization. for achieving political literacy. Much of what
needs to be learned to exercise competent political
Along with others, we have also come to view judgment can be picked-up from sources outside
bad political socialization as part of a more school. If our visits to rural communities have
general problem of adolescent development and taught us anything, they have shown us that high
motivation. Many students who suffer from levels of political engagement can be found among
poor school performance and low self-esteem populations that are not especially well-educated
exhibit the corresponding characteristics of low or wealthy. Adolescents destined for full-time
political efficacy and system support. At the same jobs after high school, and even high school drop-
time, it is not inevitable that students with lower outs, can be politically active citizens providing that
motivation and educational aspirations wind up they grow-up seeing models of good citizenship, or
badly socialized. The answer to the problem of experience political campaigns that remind them
low civic engagement is not necessarily to make that their participation is worthwhile. School is
everyone want to go on to a four-year college important, but it is not everything.
and become a physician or a professor. Many
observers apparently come to believe that only Writing in the middle of the last century, political
people with college degrees are capable of making scientist V.O. Key pointed to the value of partisan
informed political judgments – that somehow good diversity and high turnout as driving forces behind
citizenship requires a certain requisite number of democratic governance. The habit of nonvoting
years of formal education. This makes us wonder resulted in a shrunken electorate in one-party
how all of those uneducated (albeit male) masses states. The limited electorate, in turn, influenced
in 19th century America managed to get to the polls the nature of factional politics within a single
and be so civically engaged. party “by practically eliminating from the voting
population substantial blocs of citizens whose
V.O. KEY WAS RIGHT political interests and objectives, if activated, would
furnish the motive power for important political
While there is undeniable evidence that education movements and demands.” (Key 1949, 508). Key
and knowledge go hand-in-hand, and that formal went on to add that a government founded on
education greatly facilitates political choice and democratic principles became some other sort of
decision making, it is not necessary that more regime when large proportions of its citizens were
years in a classroom be the only ticket to good non-voters.
citizenship, or that what is learned that makes
citizenship more likely must be packaged with Political party competition, and the associated
ambitions for a prestigious profession. Legions mobilization efforts by parties and candidates, were

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

seen by Key to be the instrument of democratic should not be presumed to, work the same way
restoration. Notably, no mention is made in his everywhere, independent of contextual forces,
landmark work of improving formal education in or local distributions of opinion, that can either
schools, although he does attack the anachronistic mitigate or aggravate individual risk factors that
presence of suffrage restrictions in state law, which predict non-participation. A one-size-fits-all social
have since been ruled unconstitutional. studies curriculum, and an accompanying test,
will not work if socialization is really more locally
In the years leading up to the 2004 election, social contingent than we have been led to believe.
scientists rediscovered the problem of low turnout, Rather than adopting uniform state level or national
alarmed by the fact that in spite of the elimination standards, standards should be locally adapted to
of suffrage restrictions, and amazing improvements the challenges and needs of specific populations.
in the level of education over the course of the To the extent that forces outside of school cannot
last century, participation rates had been steadily be counted upon to properly socialize young
declining. Gerber and Green (2000) argued people, schools will bear more of the responsibility
persuasively that turnout had dropped because for teaching the values consistent with good
people are no longer being asked to vote – and citizenship. This is likely to place more pressure
being asked face-to-face is really what counts. on urban school systems to reform curriculum
Party and candidate mobilization efforts were and experiment in search of effective instructional
reinvigorated in advance of the 2004 election, and styles. Too often we found the most creative
turnout surged to levels it had not reached since and dedicated instructors in the schools that least
1968. needed them, where there were ample resources
outside the schools that could teach the lessons
What we have found is that adolescents’ sense of of good citizenship. Suburban youth are more
political efficacy and level of political knowledge resilient to the presence of bad teachers than inner
is greatly enhanced in politically active areas city youth. We need a policy initiative that will
that exhibit partisan diversity and high turnout. appropriately compensate and reward teachers for
While we doubt that there is a lot of door-to-door succeeding in the most challenging environments.
campaigning going on in the highly participatory
neighborhoods we visited, what we do find are Schools in the most politically insular and isolated
adults who are interested in discussing politics communities should be targeted by political party
with young people, and modeling good citizenship leaders of the minority party for visits that expose
behavior by voting regularly. Even if participatory these students to different ways of thinking about
behavior is not being modeled by a teenager’s politics and issues. For Democratic party leaders,
parents, the adolescent can still see relatives, this would involve sending representatives to the
neighbors and other adults in the community taking most rural and heavily Republican locations, where
elections seriously. the homogeneity of pro-GOP views is most likely
to squelch local Democratic voices, and discourage
THE RELEVANCE OF PLACE FOR POLICIES TO more open classroom discussions. For Republican
IMPROVE POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION party leaders, this would involve dispatching
speakers to the most urban school systems,
We started under the conviction that places where the student body is often greater than 90
matter to the way young people are socialized, percent minority, and perhaps just as Democratic
and we believe that our work establishes the in their political orientation. Having a regular
relevance of the local political characteristics staff of speakers employed as part of the political
of the adult population on attitudes consistent party hierarchy who regularly visit schools where
with positive political socialization. Our work students tend to be of opposite political stripe
shows that political socialization does not, and will go a long way toward inculcating a respect

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for political difference and disagreement that is

entirely absent in locations where only one side CIVICS INSTRUCTION AND CURRICULUM
dominates. As part of the socialization process,
students need to learn that there are legitimate Social studies instructors need to work within
reasons for holding opposing viewpoints, and at the curriculum guidelines that are sensitive to the
same time, can benefit by having to defend their needs of diverse populations and students with
policy positions to others and to themselves (Mutz distinctive psychological histories. Teaching
2002, 116). At locations where dissonant views do government and politics is not a one-size-fits-all
not surface as a natural product of local diversity, proposition. Rather than centralizing standards
dissonance must be introduced through other for performance, standards are probably best
means. decentralized and tailored to the local school
population, and even sub-populations within the
But the other point worth emphasis is that schools school. To help with this, local and state politicians
are not the only answer, or even the primary and party leaders should be regularly invited to
one in the long term, for elevating the level of high school classes to discuss their roles and views,
informed participation. Political parties and especially if their views are contrary to those of
candidates should be more actively involved in local populations. At the same time, programs that
grassroots development initiatives as part of the get students involved in their local communities
electioneering process, but this requires that may also help teachers to cater their curricula to
a modicum of competition be restored to local local affairs. Service-learning programs may help
political jurisdictions. Steps should be taken to in this regard.
enhance the level of political diversity at least for
offices extending down to the state legislative Immigrant youth and the children of immigrant
level. In the public interest, the courts should parents are often at a disadvantage when it comes
adopt new criteria for the drawing of political to learning about the American political system.
district boundaries, seeking to maximize political In addition to other compensatory courses for
heterogeneity and diversity, rather than allowing new immigrants, such as ESL, immigrant children
political officeholders to create safe election need compensatory education in civics and social
districts secure from the threat of electoral studies. They are the least likely to receive
sanction. Rules maximizing political heterogeneity information about American government from
should apply equally to urban, suburban and home, and they have not been socialized with the
rural areas, to the extent feasible to meet relaxed same symbols and history lessons that children
standards of compactness and contiguity. born in the United States have.

POLICY DIRECTIONS Social studies instruction should highlight the

central role of conflict and disagreement in the
We focus our recommendations in two basic operation of American political institutions, while
areas: policies designed to enhance social studies showing that these disagreements are soluble
education and curriculum; and policies designed and manageable. Students must be assured
to promote political diversity and activism in local that disagreement and diversity can be safe, that
environments. Some of these recommendations people need not take offense when others do not
are familiar, others less so. Some are vague, agree with them, that most disputes are subject to
pointing only in a general policy direction. We do peaceful resolution and compromise, and that more
not pretend to be experts at implementation. We persistent disagreements can be tolerated. In
do hope that some of these ideas are discussed and some schools, there are extra-curricular activities,
that it is not the most controversial ones that are such as mock trial or the debating team, that help
highlighted at the expense of the others. adolescents learn the value of principled dispute.

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However, relatively few students participate in peacefully and that disagreement is not intolerable.
these activities. Elements of debate and discussion
should be incorporated into all social studies One of the best instruments of positive political
courses, and in many other areas of the curriculum, socialization is responsive government, or at least
such as literature, philosophy, and history. government that is not widely corrupt. Working
to create less discriminatory policing and a more
Political efficacy is as important, in many respects, professional, service-oriented bureaucracy are
as factual political knowledge. Social studies means to this end. In addition, focusing on local
courses should not only teach the facts, but should government, rather than national government,
build political efficacy. Course materials that may also help to show that government can be
present American political institutions and leaders responsive to those problems that are often most
as rigged and corrupt help to instill cynicism and salient to people. Often, social studies courses
negative attitudes about government. It is not and current events courses depend heavily
necessary to portray American history without upon national media sources and on national
any of its flaws and shortcomings, but similarly, it political issues. Examining local problems, and
does tremendous harm to portray it in a singularly local solutions, can help with the perception that
negative light. American history and government government is responsive.
are not “all bad” or “all good,” and adolescents
must learn to deal with shades of gray. Teaching Residential integration of ethnic minorities and
the value of conflict and debate will also go a long white populations is another instrument for building
way toward helping students learn to deal with both a positive socialization experience. Conservatives
the positive and negative aspects of our history. would suggest that this goal is met by providing
economic opportunity and upward mobility for
Social studies curricula should emphasize the those on the lower rungs. Liberals would suggest
meaning of party labels and assist students in that fair housing policy and affirmative action are
making the connection between the major parties instruments to the integration of minorities with
and the social groups that comprise the party whites. We are agnostic on these options, believing
coalitions. A critical threshold in the socialization that there is more than one way to achieve the
process is crossed when youth learn which sorts of same goal. Real world policy problems can rarely
“social, economic and ideological groups affiliate be resolved from within a single party’s ideology or
with each party, while sorting out which group dominant policy framework.
labels properly apply to themselves” (Green,
Palmquist and Schickler 2002, 137). In addition to contributing to the policy
discussions on these critical topics, we hope our
BOLSTERING POLITICAL DIVERSITY AND work contributes to the resuscitation of political
ENCOURAGING ACTIVISM socialization research in the social sciences. The
time is ripe for reconsidering the findings from
To the extent possible to meet relaxed standards earlier studies. Times are changing. During the
of compactness and maintain contiguity, election next ten years, the Depression Era generation,
districts should be drawn so as to maximize political those who came of age during the 1930s and
heterogeneity and diversity rather than to protect 1940s, will make a final exit from the electorate
incumbent officeholders. Young people should through mortality. The Baby Boom generation,
be confronted with at least some elections that the large post World War II birth cohort currently
provide a serious partisan choice. In general, youth in its late 1940s and 1950s, will be entering
across many one-party locations are in desperate retirement, and it too will begin to drop out
need of exposure to political diversity, partly to of the electorate. Bracketing the other end of
demonstrate that multiple viewpoints can coexist the population distribution is an enormous and

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fast-growing population under age 25. These

are the children, and among the youngest, the
grandchildren, of the Baby Boomers. In spite of
the high turnout of the 2004 election, the outlook
for their engagement is far from uniform. An
overall decline in the level of voter participation
with the passing of the Baby Boom generation
would appear to lie ahead. Unless we come to a
better understanding of the local forces that create
good citizens, and do what we can to stimulate
them in the places where they are not operating on
their own, “small-d” democrats may one day be
pining for the days when participation levels were
at 51 percent.

__________
REFERENCE
James G. Gimpel, J. Celeste Lay and Jason E.
Schuknecht. 2003. Cultivating Democracy: Civic
Environments and Political Socialization in America.
Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

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THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF is often celebrated by advocates of deliberative

democracy? My empirical work in this area has
POLITICAL CONFLICT
led me to believe that there are fundamental
DIANA C. MUTZ incompatibilities between theories of participatory
democracy and theories of deliberative democracy.
Although I began studying people’s political
I. INTRODUCTION discussion networks with the widely shared
assumption that face-to-face exposure to differing
Politics is a realm of conflict. In our system of political views is unquestionably something to be
government, this is as it should be. But from encouraged, my findings soon convinced me that
a very young age, children are encouraged to things were not so simple as I had supposed. In my
avoid conflict, to defuse it, and if all else fails, to network-based studies of Americans, I found that
walk away from it. Viewed from this perspective, although diverse political networks foster a better
it is no wonder that youth prefer forms of understanding of multiple perspectives on issues
civic engagement that are less controversial. and encourage political tolerance, they discourage
Participation in civic activities such as groups that political participation, particularly among those who
help the homeless, feed the hungry, or even get are averse to conflict. Those with diverse networks
out the vote, are all relatively uncontroversial refrain from participation in part because of the
relative to supporting a controversial candidate or social awkwardness that comes from publicly taking
cause. a stand that friends or associates may oppose.

My research suggests that people’s reactions to When the desire to get along with one another on
conflict and their desire for social harmony can help a day-to-day basis conflicts with the normative
us in understanding how the citizen approaches dictates of political theory, it should give us pause.
the political world. On the one hand, I am not Many conceptions of civil society blend participatory
convinced that political conflict and incivility are democracy with deliberative democracy in a
necessarily any worse now than in the past. After seamless fashion, suggesting that the two goals are
all, as Zell Miller reminded us, it has been a very almost one and the same, with deliberation merely
long time since the last political duel. Nonetheless, representing a subset of political participation more
the context in which citizens are exposed to generally. But based on my findings, it is doubtful
political discourse is probably quite different that an extremely activist political culture can also
from what it was in the past, and this may have be a heavily deliberative one – at least not when
implications for their contemporary reactions to the political participation involves significant social
political world. costs.

Although my research does not focus on youth in The best social environment for cultivating political
particular, it addresses the difficulties that people activism is one in which people are surrounded
face in attempting to be tolerant, conflict-avoidant by those who agree with them, people who will
individuals while simultaneously fulfilling the role of reinforce the sense that their own political views
good political citizen. My research addresses issues are the only right and proper way to proceed.
of conflict and incivility in face-to-face and televised Like-minded people can spur one another on to
exchanges of political opinion, and I provide a brief collective action, and promote the kind of passion
outline each of these programs of research below. and enthusiasm that is central to motivating
political participation.
I. FACE-TO-FACE POLITICS: THE TRADE-OFFS
Collectively, my results suggest that cross-cutting
To what extent is it reasonable to expect youth contact plays an important role in encouraging
to engage in the kind of political discourse that
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

democratic values by familiarizing people with of experiencing political conflict in an up-close, in

legitimate rationales for opposing viewpoints and your face fashion?
encouraging political tolerance. Interestingly, this
impact is particularly pronounced among people My research has examined the consequences of
who care about maintaining social harmony; the way oppositional political views are presented
that is, those who engage in cross-cutting on television, focusing on political television’s
conversations, but who would remain silent rather propensity to provide unusually intimate
than risk conflict that might end the association perspectives on unusually uncivil exchanges of
altogether. political views. Drawing on results from three
experiments, I find that the “in-your-face”
Thus social environments that include close contact nature of political television is very important to
among people of differing perspectives may understanding television’s impact on the perceived
promote a give and take of political ideas, but they legitimacy of the opposition, and on attitude toward
are unlikely to foster political fervor. The prospects politics and politicians more generally. In general,
for truly deliberative encounters may suffer while I find that people tend to respond negatively not
the prospects for participation and political activism to conflict per se, but to the way that conflict is
are burgeoning. There is an inherent tension experienced.
between promoting a society with enthusiastically
participative citizens, and promoting one imbued Across experiments, viewers watching the more
with tolerance and respect for differences of uncivil versions of the political program featuring
opinion. less polite interactions from an intimate camera
perspective, consistently judged oppositional
Because both participation and tolerance are highly political arguments to be even less legitimate, and
valued in democratic systems, there is no easy less legitimate than if they did not view anything
answer to how much political inactivity should be at all. Likewise, the least-liked candidate was
accepted in the name of greater tolerance; nor, viewed even more negatively when candidates
conversely, how much intolerance of oppositional were viewed in close-up while interacting in
views should be accepted in the name of an uncivil fashion. Further, incivility viewed for
encouraging political activism. Homogeneous and just 20 minutes from an “in-your-face” camera
heterogeneous social contexts serve two different, perspective lowered levels of confidence in our
yet both important, purposes in this regard. political institutions, levels of trust in government,
and attitudes toward the respectability of politicians
II. IN YOUR FACE POLITICS: CONSEQUENCES FOR more generally
POLITICAL LEGITIMACY
Unfortunately, the same violations of face-to-face
In an increasingly selection-driven social norms for political discourse that make these kinds
structure, how do Americans come to believe that of programs entertaining and arousing to watch
reasonable people can disagree on a given political also discourage the kind of mutual respect for one
controversy? Contemporary social theory suggests another’s arguments that might sustain perceptions
that mass media, and television in particular, serve of a legitimate opposition. The implications of
as an increasingly important source of exposure to television’s unique perspective on conflict matter
views unlike one’s own. But exchanges of political for the legitimacy of any multi-party, pluralist
views on television tend to be qualitatively different system. A willingness to acknowledge that there is
from those occurring in face-to-face contexts. something to be said for the other side, even when
Does television familiarize viewers with rationales one’s own views do not prevail, is essential to the
for oppositional political perspectives and thereby kind of legitimacy that allows a democratic political
enhance the extent to which oppositional views are system to remain stable.
perceived as legitimate? What are the implications
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

These results also hint at possible historical

changes in the way citizens respond to candidates
in an age of televisual politics. The effects that we
have observed appear to be dependent upon “gut-
level,” emotional reactions from viewers whose
personal space is being “invaded” by someone
whose views they find disagreeable. As anyone
who has been cornered by such an individual at a
cocktail party knows, this experience tends to be
unpleasant at best. The natural reaction for most
people is to want such individuals out of their faces
as soon as possible. It is one thing if they are
espousing their disagreeable views on the other
side of the room, and quite another if they insist
on doing so at close range. These findings suggest
that viewing politicians up-close and personal
rather than from a distance may have intensified
citizens’ negativity toward candidates they dislike.
In the days when such intimate perspectives were
not technologically possible, as when exposure to
politicians was limited to newspapers, the intensity
of our disgust for those with whom we disagree
probably remained more muted.

___________
REFERENCES
Mutz, Diana C., and Byron Reeves. Forthcoming,
2005. The New Videomalaise: Effects of Televised
Incivility on Political Trust. American Political
Science Review (1) 99.

Mutz, D.C., and Byron Reeves. “Hearing the Other

Side: Effects of Television on Political Legitimacy.”
Paper presented to the Midwest Political Science
Association, Chicago, IL, April 2003.

Mutz, Diana C. 2002. “The Consequences of

Cross-Cutting Networks for Political Participation.”
American Journal of Political Science 46 (4): 838-
55.

Mutz, Diana C. 2002. “Cross-Cutting Social

Networks: Testing Democratic Theory in Practice.”
American Political Science Review 96 (2): 111-26.

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YOUTH AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS of much research on civic engagement.

JOEL WESTHEIMER
Second, the kind of value-neutrality obsessively
OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP nurtured by institutions (especially schools,
BETWEEN YOUTH AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS but also many youth organizations, clubs, etc.)
has wrought, perhaps, irreparable damage to
Several observations have guided my thinking in the institutional capacity to influence youth in
relation to youth and both formal and informal meaningful ways. In much of common parlance,
institutions aimed at strengthening democratic for youth and adults alike, “being political” is a bad
engagement in society. Among these, here are thing. Being political is tantamount to devaluing
three that might be useful for our discussions and the public good for personal or party gain. The
further action. kinds of controversies, power-plays, social
upheavals, movements, and networks that some
First, many of the ways traditionally used to youth avidly engage in outside of formal institutions
describe political engagement have become are the same issues, ideas, and debates that are
either calcified and/or obsolete in describing systematically stripped from the school curriculum.
contemporary youth attitudes, skills, and I wonder about a research and policy agenda that
knowledge for democratic engagement. There is might restore “politics” to its rightful spot in formal
some limited research in this area, but many of and informal educational institutions. Harry Boyte
our collective classroom experiences neatly and described politics as the way people with different
adequately reveal these trends. Ask a typical values and from different backgrounds can “work
high school, college, or university class how many together to solve problems and create common
women consider themselves feminist. Ask students things of value.” It is the process by which citizens
whether their ideas about taxes or low-income with varied interests and opinions can negotiate
housing or war and peace derive from a “left” or differences and clarify places where values conflict.
“right” political value-system. Ask whether their How to move youth from a notion of politics as
generation’s diminished voter participation signals mud-slinging to politics as what Bernard Crick, in
apathy, cynicism, or disgust. Ask whether education his work In Defense of Politics, called “a great and
is a process of indoctrination or of developing civilizing activity”?
critical thinking and what the differences might
be. Ask whether the public sphere or the private Furthermore, while institutions that routinely
sphere are more appropriate arenas for grappling claim to be developing critical thinking skills in
with intractable social problems such as poverty, students actively avoid content and pedagogy
teen-pregnancy, AIDS, social security. There will that could sharpen these skills, other sectors of
be some students, to be sure, who feel comfortable society are already capitalizing on some young
developing their own civic identities and their own people’s rather sophisticated understanding of
political outlooks with reference to these kinds of critical analysis. Advertisers, for example, have
questions and using a kind of discourse familiar and become keenly aware of, and, in a strange way,
comfortable to many of us doing research on youth respectful, of young adults’ intelligence, critical-
civic engagement and political participation. But thinking abilities, and savvy. The new breed of
there are others, perhaps a large number of other advertising that effectively “targets” youth is what
youth and young adults, who employ a different Douglas Rushkoff (Coerced, Putnam Publishing)
kind of discourse to describe their and their peer’s calls “wink advertising” that recognizes the critical
forms of political learning, identity, engagement, stance and media savvy of viewers. Advertisers
and action. In short, many youth and young know that young people pride themselves on being
adults see themselves as politically thoughtful and able to deconstruct and understand the coercive
politically active, but not in ways that hit the radar tactics of television commercials. By winking at

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the audience, they acknowledge that you know with the charge of indoctrination, sometimes
how to think and not just be blindly influenced rightly so. While avoiding indoctrination
(e.g. Levi’s parody of Calvin Klein’s ultra-skinny, (i.e. inculcating set solutions or positions
sickly supermodels in which Levi’s juxtaposed with respect to social issues), how can we,
healthy models with the caption: “Our models on the other hand, look towards institutional
can beat up their models”). Instead of accepting policies and practices and research on
curriculum and school practices devoid of political the possibilities for and effects of these
content, I wonder about our ability to research practices without resorting to platitudinous
and advocate for curriculum that challenges youth reinforcement of a conservative, status quo
to think critically about the social, economic, and agenda?
political relations that surround them. What kind
of institutional norms, programs, and policies 3. Youth have energy and insight that many
could help to teach for a kind of democratic other sectors of society do not. They also
citizenship that recognizes ambiguity and conflict, possess relatively little experience and
that sees human conditions and aspirations as expertise. What might programs look like
complex and contested, and that embraces debate that take this tension seriously?
and deliberation as a cornerstone of democratic
societies?
DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH
My third observation, also made by many From these observations and accompanying
others, is that the language of individualism tensions, I suggest the following directions for
and privatization has so perversely invaded our research and policy initiatives that may derive from
common discourse that construing institutions as the research.
having collective purposes has become a difficult
task. Any initiatives that we begin will have to 1. I would be very interested in exploring how
grapple with the need to first provide a language of contemporary youth conceptualize politics,
social interest and collective gain to the youth and political participation, civic engagement, and
institutions with whom we might work. activism. This research would likely employ
mixed-method approaches. Surveys and
broad-portrait investigations tell us a great
DILEMMAS deal about trends; thoughtful and rigorous
These observations raise at least three dilemmas or qualitative investigations reveal much about
tensions worthy of exploration. the ways youth understand and respond to
programs, curricula, and policies aimed at
1. Can institutions nurture a counter- inviting and developing their participation
institutional sense that seems so necessary in meaningful civic affairs. For example,
in substantial social change and in engaging voting as a goal of engagement rather than
youth in ideas that matter to them? either a means or a measure of engagement
Institutions are, by their very definition, seems problematic, especially given the
resistant to challenges that threaten various alternative ways youth claim to
their stability. Everyone likes the idea of view participation. Certainly some youth
teaching critical thinking, but so few really might fit the Gen-X description of apathy,
want critical thinkers in their classrooms, absence from the established political
clubhouses, meetings, and so on. system, and so forth. But a significant
population of youth activists have abdicated
2. Pursuing a progressive democratic agenda in no such responsibility. They have, instead,
research and policy is almost invariably met searched—sometimes

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ineffectively—for new ways to engage the

political system, through the media, the
internet, and, perhaps most significantly,
through global networks that bridge youth
interests across many nations. It seems
critical to understand more about these
developments.
2. I would also be enthusiastic about
investigations that engage underlying
values and orientations. How do youth view
themselves engaging in civic life? The “Civic
Mission of Schools,” for example, might
not have, as its endpoint, simply youth
engagement. (Perhaps many youth are not
even as disengaged as many think). The
question that captures me is this: towards
what ends might youth engagement lead?
What kind of society does the possibility of
youth engagement predict? What various
visions of this society compete among
those who advocate civic engagement?
Accordingly, I would like to ask many more
questions how who students are rather than
exclusively about what they do (do they
vote? Do they work for a political campaign,
and so on).

3. Finally, how does corporatization and

privatization of an increasing number of
our once-public institutions and collective,
community practices affect the goals of
civic engagement and political participation
among youth? How do these privatization
trends – not only of long-time public
institutions such as schools or prisons, but
also of the language of democracy and
citizenship itself – affect schools and other
institutions?

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SOME OVERLOOKED CONTEXTUAL FACTORS the past 25 years:

PETER LEVINE
• Electoral politics: Thanks to sophisticated
Karl Mannheim argued that people tend to form gerrymandering, there is ever less
stable civic identities in their late teens. As competition for state legislatures and the
adolescents emerge from the relatively narrow US House. As a result, young people grow
horizons of their families and neighborhoods, up without the experience of debate in
they confront the broader world of governments, their communities and may conclude that
ideologies, parties, and nation-states. They must controversy is unnecessary or artificial,
adopt some stance toward this world, whether something that Washington political elites
it is passive acceptance, alienation, enthusiastic stir up for tactical reasons. The lack of
embrace, or personal obligation. After people competition also means that elected officials
form a stance, the effort required to change their are relatively insulated from accountability
minds is too costly unless major historical events and relatively uninterested in seeking young
intervene and require a reassessment. Given the people’s support. We know from the Green
relatively low salience of public life, inertia tends to and Gerber experiments that young people
dominate for the rest of our lives.1 often vote when asked. The decline in
political competitiveness means that they
If Mannheim was even partly right, then it is
are less likely to receive a request to vote.
important to ask how our institutions socialize
young people for lifetimes of civic and political Meanwhile, sophisticated marketing
participation. The impact of these institutions is strategies and technologies have allowed
likely to change as their structure and behavior consultant-driven campaigns to focus
evolve. Thus a study of institutional change is their efforts on groups of people with
crucial for our analysis of political development. known voting histories. Young people
have unknown voting preferences and are
I suspect that the following are some of the most
relatively unlikely to participate. Thus they
significant ways in which American institutions have
are usually left off target lists. To make
changed their effects on political socialization over

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matters worse, their services as volunteers Byron Reeves have found that people are
are not needed as much as in the past, entertained by angry debates, yet such
because campaigns depend on expert confrontations reduce trust in government
consultants, mailing lists, and professionally and politics.4
produced advertising.
Others who participate in the March meeting will
• Civil society: As Elinor Ostrom notes, be able to address these issues more expertly than
“Some aspects of the science of I. Thus I would like to suggest some additional
association are both counterintuitive and factors that are rarely mentioned in discussions of
counterintentional, and thus must be taught political socialization. In mentioning these factors,
to each generation as part of the culture of my main point is that our research should be
a democratic citizenry.” 2 Associations have broader than we usually think.
incentives to recruit young people and teach
them skills necessary for the organizations’ 1. School size. Over the next five years or
maintenance. If associations recruit so, high schools will be the topic of the most
fewer members, that is bad for political interesting debates and reforms in all of education.
socialization. Unfortunately, some important For elementary and middle schools, we have a
organizations that once recruited young regime in place, as codified in No Child Left Behind
people have lost membership. The most (NCLB). There are frequent statewide tests; scores
obvious examples are labor unions. In 2000, are disaggregated by race, gender, disability, and
just 13% of 15-24s were union members, language background; and every group must make
far less than fifty years ago. Religious “adequate yearly progress” on the tests or else
congregations can also teach civic skills. But schools face penalties. Like it or hate it, this is the
regular religious attendance among high status quo for grades 1-8; only adjustments are
school seniors declined from 41 percent in possible.
1976 to 33 percent in 2003.3 During this
The formula embodied in NCLB doesn’t affect high
period, high school seniors did not show any
schools nearly as deeply, yet there is widespread
major change in attitudes toward religion,
agreement that they should be thoroughly
but they became considerably less likely to
reformed. In particular, many people criticize
participate in organized religious groups.
huge, themeless, “shopping mall” high schools
that offer long lists of courses and activities (as
• The news media: The modern mass media
well as cliques and networks) for a wide variety of
are fragmented and allow people to opt
students.
out of news more easily than in the past.
There also may be more sorting by level The average size of American primary and
of knowledge; some newspapers provide secondary schools increased four-fold between
highly sophisticated information to global 1940 and 1965, from 100 to more than 400.
audiences via the Internet, while other Toward the end of that period (1959), James
news sources (such as commercial web Conant identified small high schools as the single
portals and music radio stations) provide biggest problem in American education. He
extremely superficial coverage tilted toward argued that they were economically ineffecient,
entertainment. Organs that might serve unprofessional, and unable to provide a wide
diverse audiences, such as metropolitan range of equipment and specialized teachers. In
daily newspapers, are endangered in the addition to these arguments, other factors probably
current market. Meanwhile, most people contributed to massive school consolidation in that
feel that news programs have become less era, including a tendency to close down historically
civil, perhaps because they must compete black schools under court desegregation orders
more avidly for ratings. Diana Mutz and

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

(not to mention the desire to field better football range of offerings and equipment and you elect
teams). to take the honors classes and work on the school
newspaper. But those assets are of no use unless
The result was the creation of very large schools, you have the confidence, motivation, networks
especially high schools, in which students were ties, and knowledge to use them. In a huge high
seen as consumers who should be permitted school, there is little chance that any adult will
to choose among a wide variety of offerings try to steer a student who is on a mediocre track
(curricular and extracurricular) provided by onto a more challenging one. Twenty years later,
specialists. Students were presumed to have the student who chose easy courses and avoided
diverse interests and abilities. Thus it was right clubs may still be paying a price, economically
that some should choose student government as well as socially and politically. It’s fine to let
and AP courses while others preferred “shop” and students choose among competing schools. Some
basketball. students will do better in a school oriented toward
scientific research, or service-learning, or the great
If we hope to create effective, committed, and
books. But the choice should be carefully made
responsible citizens, huge schools have several
among coherent, purposeful communities, not “a
marked disadvantages. Relatively few students—
la carte” off a miscellaneous list of courses and
mostly ones who are already on a successful
other experiences. Perhaps more important, almost
track—can possibly participate in the extracurricular
all schools should be small, so that no student is
activities, such as school government and
overlooked or forgotten.
scholastic journalism, that seem most likely to
teach civic skills. Students in large schools tend to 2. Living arrangements. Some 50 million
self-select into cliques and can avoid interacting Americans now live in some kind of community
with those different from themselves. Parents and governed by an association: a condominium,
other adults in the community have little impact on cooperative, or a planned community with a
these large, bureaucratic institutions; so schools board. Often a developer subdivides some land or
are rarely models of community problem-solving constructs an apartment building and sells the units
or active citizenship, nor can they create paths with deeds that (a) impose numerous rules on the
to participation in the broader world. Often, large buyer; and (b) create a board or other body that
schools occupy suburban-style campuses, set far can legislate further and enforce existing rules.
apart from the adult community of work, family,
religion, and politics. Even worse, some huge These are voluntary associations: An adult is not
schools occupy prison-like urban blocks, secured required to buy a house or an apartment in any
with gates and bars. particular condo or planned community. However,
children do not choose where they grow up.
We know that students who feel that they can Residential associations act much like governments,
have an impact on the governance of their own taxing, regulating and fining residents and
schools tend to be efficacious and interested in enforcing their decisions in courts. Indeed, they
public affairs; but it is impossible for anyone to are more powerful than conventional governments,
influence the overall atmosphere and structure which are restrained by the Constitution of the
of a huge school that is organized around private United States. Residential associations can—and
choice. “Shopping mall” high schools tend to have actually have—banned the display of signs
reasonably bad discipline and a general atmosphere critical of themselves, banned the sales of certain
of alienation. newspapers, even banned the private possession
of materials they deem pornographic. The rationale
Finally, young people become victims of their
for these rules is to increase property values,
own choices. You can pick up civic skills (as well
although the rules may also have other purposes,
as other ones) if you attend a school with a wide
benign or malevolent.

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

What kind of political socialization will these living effectively through traditional means,
arrangements create? Will residents grow up service is a viable and preferable (if not
thinking that government is unnecessary, since a superior) alternative at this time.
private association provides for their needs? Or will
they decide that security and prosperity depend I suspect that there was one major reason for the
upon pervasive regulation of private behavior? change in attitudes toward service among left-
What conclusions will they draw from bans on liberal youth: the Clinton Administration. In 1988,
political speech? If they learn to rely on regulation most young proponents of civic engagement,
without political participation and individual rights, having grown up under Reagan, believed that
then they will be socialized for fascism. a Democratic electoral victory was much more
important than any form of direct service. In 2001,
3. The fortunes of major political ideologies: having experienced a Democratic presidency,
When I was in college, in the late 1980s, I played idealistic young liberals were highly skeptical of
a very small role in national discussions about government and politics as paths to social change.
how to increase opportunities for service. These Note that a similar pattern of mobilization and
discussions helped lay the groundwork for the disillusionment could easily affect conservative
Points of Light Foundation and then the Corporation youth under different political circumstances.
for National and Community Service. Most of
the young people in those discussions were left- _____________
liberals. For us, service seemed useful because it ENDNOTES
might sensitize people to problems like poverty and 1 Mannheim, “The Problem of Generations” (1928),
racism and lead to political action. However, service available in Essays on the Sociology if Knowledge,
would be harmful, we thought, if it became an edited by Paul Kecskemeti (London, 1952), pp.
end in itself or a palliative. These were the explicit 276-322, especially p. 300. Mannheim says (p.
conclusions of a Wingspread retreat on service that 298): “even if the rest of one’s life consisted in
I attended in 1988. one long process of negation and destruction
of the natural world view acquired in youth, the
Thirteen years later, in 2001, Campus Compact determining influence of these early impressions
brought a new group of college students to would still be predominant.” For a good summary
Wingspread to discuss civic engagement. These of recent literature, see Constance Flanagan and
students said: Lonnie R. Sherrod, “Youth Political Development:
An Introduction,” Journal of Social Issues (Fall,
For the most part, we are frustrated 1998). The period between age 14 and 25 is
with conventional politics, viewing it as identified as crucial in R.G. Niemi and M.A.
inaccessible. [However,] while we are Hepburn, “The Rebirth of Political Socialization,”
disillusioned with conventional politics Perspectives on Political Science, vol. 24 (1995),
(and therefore most forms of political pp. 7-16. Perspectives on Political Science, vol. 24
activity), we are deeply involved in civic (1995), pp. 7-16.
issues through non-traditional forms of 2 Ostrom, “The Need for Civic Education: A
engagement. We are neither apathetic nor Collective Action Perspective” (1998), p. 1.
disengaged. In fact, what many perceive as 3 Monitoring the Future data analyzed by Child
disengagement may actually be a conscious Trends (http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/
choice; for example, a few of us … actively indicators/32ReligiousServices.cfm)
avoided voting, not wanting to participate 4 Diana Mutz and Byron Reeves have conducted
in what some of us view as a deeply flawed fascinating experiments that demonstrate the
electoral process. … While we still hope to serious effects of rudeness in our televised politics.
be able to participate in our political system (See “Videomalaise Revisited: Effects of Television

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

Incivility on Political Trust,” Journalism and Mass

Communication Educator, Spring 2004, 59/1)

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

CITY DESIGNS: BUILDING MUNICIPAL SYSTEMS • Universalize opportunities to participate:

unlike many forms of local association, self-
FOR YOUTH CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
help, or advocacy, city-sponsored systems
CARMEN SIRIANNI can create a structure for access to direct
participation for all. The participation system
can cover all neighborhoods (Berry 1993;
While there are diverse strategies for enhancing
Diers 2004), all police beats (Skogan and
youth civic engagement (YCE), I argue here
Hartnett 1997), and all public schools (Fung
that we should pay considerable attention to
2004). The city can make further efforts to
how city governments can play a key role in
ensure or mandate inclusiveness, so that
institutionalizing YCE. And while we should certainly
typical middle class biases in participation
employ good social science tools for thinking
do not easily prevail and so that
empirically, analytically, and practically about what
disadvantaged and newcomer groups have
models “work,” or might be made to work and work
access. The city can deploy organizing staff
better, we should also begin to think normatively:
to build or strengthen their associations and
city government should institutionalize YCE
their capacity to participate in city venues.
within and across a range of its public functions
and agencies in order to enhance democratic
• Provide training in complex public problem
governance now and create citizens capable of self-
solving for citizens and the staff with whom
government today and in the future. This might
they interact. Instead of presuming that
be seen as a normative requirement of complex
citizens obtain the requisite skills in school
urban democracy today. City government needs
or through civic associations, churches,
to systematically invest in democracy and develop
and community organizing groups, the city
strategies for transforming institutional cultures
can assume responsibility for providing,
to engage and partner with citizens generally,
complementing, and enriching the skills
including young people. Of course, city-sponsored
citizens need to engage in productive
strategies should be aligned as much as possible
problem solving on specific kinds of issues:
with the civic mission of schools, with other YCE
planning (Diers 2004), school governance
efforts in the civic and nonprofit sectors (YMCAs,
(Fung 2004), public safety (Skogan 1999),
4-H clubs, youth development agencies), and with
neighborhood development (Sirianni and
local (especially public) colleges and universities.
Friedland 2001), environmental restoration,
And government efforts should be responsive to
sustainability, and risk prevention (National
outside challenges from youth organizing.
Environmental Justice Advisory Council
2003, 2004) . The city can also do this in
Before sketching one model for citywide, city-
a way that aligns with training for agency
sponsored YCE (Hampton, Virginia), and then
staff in collaborative, problem-solving
drawing some comparisons with other models
methodologies, thus enhancing the “civic
(especially San Francisco and Boston), it is
professional” practices (Sullivan 1995) of
important to reprise some lessons of other city-
administrative staff. Democratic governance
wide systems of public participation. We have
in complex systems is not possible without
more experience here and much more developed
training from both directions, and can
scholarship upon which to draw, however imperfect
sometimes be done as co-training (Skogan
this still is. Here is a quick summary of some key
1999). And since effective problem solving
findings, lessons, and potential from several types
often requires coordination of actions of
of city-sponsored/citywide systems (neighborhood
multiple agencies, cities need dedicated staff
associations, neighborhood planning, community
who can provide the “relational organizing”
policing, local school councils). The city can:
assistance at the points where diverse

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

citizen groups and multiple street-level Award from the Kennedy School of Government
bureaucracies meet, as in the neighborhood at Harvard and the Council for Excellence in
planning design in Seattle (Diers 2004) and Government in Washington, DC. Of course, the
the community policing design in Chicago model is imperfect, could be strengthened in
(Skogan 1999). various ways, won’t reach its full potential without
much more work over many years, and has arisen
• Facilitate and monitor fair and effective under circumstances different than those faced in
deliberation. As Archon Fung (2004) has other cities. And, of course again, we need further
shown for both community policing and local study of this and other models.2 But the overall
school councils in Chicago, city offices can vision and strategy, as well as various components,
provide resources and oversight to improve are worthy of emulation. And we should think
citizen deliberation and problem solving about the kinds of federal policy supports that
and ensure accountability that procedural might enable models like this to grow in other
and substantive goals of reform are being urban settings. Here I highlight a few key features:
met. Good city design, with the resources
and political will to back it up, can “correct” • Citywide strategy. Hampton has committed
many of the problems that some theorists to a strategy to build a “comprehensive
see as typically arising from deliberative system” for YCE. This was the result of a
democracy. multi-year collaborative planning process in
the early 1990s that: a) was generated by
• Manage conflict productively without co- the local logic of reinventing government,
opting independent citizen power. While in which flattening agency hierarchies led
urban regimes and local political cultures to greater employee participation and then
vary greatly on how responsive they are to spilled over to citizens in neighborhoods
independently organized groups (Weir 1999, confronted with controversial land-use and
Stone 2001), we have some good evidence planning decisions; and b) was supported
that citywide systems of community by a federal grant ($320,000 over five
representation do not necessarily coopt years) that enabled the city to do ambitious
and demobilize independent groups, but outreach, visioning, and leadership
can complement and catalyze them (Berry development (75 task force members
1993; Thompson 1994; Skogan and trained to facilitate forums, luncheons,
Hartnett 1997; Gudell and Skogan 2003; house meetings; 5,000 citizens participating
Diers 2004). Cities also have available in these activities and other forms of
a much larger repertoire of models and public input). The grant from the Center
methods for managing conflict productively for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)
than they did when “maximum feasible at HHS permitted, but did not require,
participation” was imposed on them by the such expansive participatory planning. The
federal government in the 1960s (Sirianni collaborative, multi-stakeholder planning
and Friedland 2001). process -- including parents, agency and
school officials, nonprofits, and youth --
generated substantial public legitimacy and
city-council sanction for the core mission
HAMPTON’S YOUTH CIVIC ENGAGEMENT SYSTEM of “empowering young people” to make
real contributions to the life of the city and
Hampton, Virginia (pop. 146,437)1 has developed have a genuine voice in its decisions. This
a most interesting model for citywide YCE, and in legitimacy then enabled the development of
2005 it received the Innovations in Government specific and complementary components of

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

the system in subsequent years. training/leadership development services

with Alternatives, and applies for national
• Nonprofit leadership. Hampton has benefited grants to help build new components
from the innovativeness of a nonprofit youth of the system. It is a clearinghouse for
development agency, Alternatives, Inc. best practices locally and nationally. The
(originally a substance abuse prevention director sees her role as one of relational
agency), which reinvented itself in response organizing across city agencies: building
to: a) the voice of local young people, relationships that will help bring officials and
whom Alternatives convened as part of the staff on board in developing partnerships
collaborative planning process; and b) the with young people and helping them
problems it perceived in the usual delivery understand how their own agency’s culture
of services to passive clients through can be transformed so that staff treat
categorical programs. The “organizational young people as contributing citizens with
learning” of Alternatives (self-consciously assets to be utilized for the good of the
using Peter Senge and others) was city and the agency, not just to help young
enabled by an emerging national network people develop themselves (though this
of practitioners and theorists in the youth is also a goal), and certainly not just to
development field, which in the early 1990s serve young people as passive clients. This
developed various frames of “positive catalytic and relational organizing role for
youth development,” “community youth the Coalition has led to new partnerships
development,” and “developmental assets.” and YCE practices in the school system,
Alternatives, Inc., became an agency police department, parks and recreation,
focused on YCE and related strategies and, planning department, and department of
with funding from the city, devoted itself neighborhoods. The city participates as
to leadership development and “relational one of 15 cities in the B.E.S.T. Initiative
organizing” among young people and their (coordinated locally by Alternatives), which
adult partners on a rather substantial scale. is a national training program to upgrade
the professional skills of youth workers,
• Dedicated city office with a mission of including their capacities to facilitate youth
institutional culture change. The key participation. Much still remains to be done
initial decision that resulted from the to further transform agency cultures so
collaborative planning process was to that youth -- and citizens more generally
make the Coalition for Youth (the loose -- are recognized as full partners and co-
organization that emerged to facilitate producers of public goods and services
the planning) a permanent office of city (Sirianni and Friedland 2005). And some
government with the mission of helping agencies have been quite resistant and
to build “a comprehensive system of remain relatively untouched by YCE efforts.
opportunities for youth to be involved in But many important steps have been taken
the life of the community.” The Coalition for and the culture change strategy has been
Youth is a small office (currently 3 full-time institutionalized. The principle behind
staff, plus a part-time office administrator) this strategy is that youth empowerment
charged to “catalyze best practices” and requires change of institutional cultures and
“establish a learning community throughout professional practices.
government, not to run programs” (in
the words of the former assistant city • Youth commission. A Youth Commission,
manager). The Coalition oversees the Youth composed of 24 students from the four
Commission (see below), contracts for public and three private high schools serving

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

the city’s population,3 plays a highly visible city planner, and the two “youth planners,”
role as the official representative of the who are the commission’s paid (part-time)
voice of youth in pubic problem solving and staff. The commission’s role is advisory, but
policy. Commissioners serve two-year terms its formal proposals are generally adopted
and are selected by current commissioners, (new Teen Center co-designed by youth in
youth planners, and adult partners the capital budget with building and land
(Coalition for Youth, Alternatives) after purchase now pending, bikeways system,
broad outreach to schools, neighborhoods, creation of a citywide Neighborhood Youth
and youth groups (see “pyramid” below). Advisory Board). Its work with the Citizens
New commissioners receive specific training Unity Commission on racial diversity has
during the summer preceding their service, been substantial (they jointly planned a
which is provided in the manner that citywide youth summit, as well as a study
most training in Hampton occurs, i.e. “co- circle process for youth and adults). This
training” by adults and experienced youth past May the youth commission designed
leaders. During the school year, the youth a very successful candidates’ forum for
commission meets twice per month, once elections to city council and mayor, whose
in a work session and once in a large public format other civic organizations then
forum convened in city council chambers, borrowed.
where they sit in the councilors seats to
conduct business. Twice annually, the • Pyramid of YCE opportunities and structured
youth commission presents formally to pathways for leadership. The system is
the city council, which is televised, and to designed on the premise that youth need
the planning commission. Commissioners a wide array of opportunities to contribute
commit to active outreach to involve a actively to the community, from the
broad range of young people in commission relatively simple and episodic, such as
deliberations, and efforts extend to school tutoring a younger child after school or
groups, friendship networks, and teachers cleaning up a river on the weekend, to the
(especially to offer extra credit). The large increasingly complex, which might involve
public forums take up important issues long-term planning, policy development,
(race relations in schools, the rights of and problem-solving in partnership with
young people, infrastructure and planning other youth and adults (Carlson 2005).
for youth recreation and transportation) and The simple tasks can elicit contributions
typically involve lively breakout sessions from virtually everyone; they serve as a
for brainstorming problems and solutions. very democratic entry portal to community
It is not unusual for these forums to have engagement and the development of a
150-250 young people, which overflows the civic ethic. The more complex tasks can
official seating capacity of the city council be intentionally designed as “pathways”
chambers. The sessions are lively, involve (Irby, Ferber and Pittman 2001) to develop
serious deliberation and very concrete progressively higher civic skill sets needed
planning, and yet have an atmosphere to carry out more ambitious projects and
of fun and spontaneous high-fives. The to represent the interests of large numbers
youth commission also funds youth/adult of youth, whether in a neighborhood,
partnership projects (“youth philanthropy”), high school, or in the city as a whole. At
which can be proposed by various groups in the base of the pyramid are the usual
the city. Youth commissioners receive advice array of community service activities, and
and mentoring from adult staff from the (with a recent Kellogg Foundation Youth
Coalition for Youth, Alternatives, a senior Innovation Fund grant) a planned service-

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

learning course for all 8th grade public is part of the city’s neighborhood college
school students. Moving up the pyramid of to help train local leaders. Alternatives has
opportunities are: a) the principals’ youth also recently trained 10 youth diversity
advisory boards in each public high school trainers to follow up on work by the
(and recently each middle school); b) Citizens Unity Commission and Study
youth representatives on some (but not all) Circles Resource Center. Formal training
neighborhood associations, as well as on the is complemented by continual feedback
Citizens Unity Commission, Citizens Advisory and advice. Alternatives also offers a 3-
Board of Parks and Recreation, and several semester leadership course (summer, fall,
other advisory boards; c) Neighborhood spring) enrolling some 25-30 students from
Youth Advisory Board (advising the all high schools, with the requirements of
Neighborhood Commission and Office team building in the summer and a field
of Neighborhoods); d) Superintendent’s placement in a leadership position during
Youth Advisory Board (for high schools the final semester. The direct investment
and now one also for middle schools); e) by the city in terms of dedicated and
Youth Commission; and f) youth planners contract staff is substantially greater than
(two paid high school students, 15 hours any city I know of -- though, of course,
each per week, limited primarily by budget there are many other sources of leadership
considerations, with a director of planning development, especially in bigger cities,
who says he would welcome 6-8 youth and I have no comparative data on overall
planners). These youth planners develop investment. But Hampton’s investment
quite sophisticated skills: statistically is done very intentionally with an eye to
valid survey methods, computer-assisted ever higher levels of performance for those
planning tools, comparative city planning moving up the pyramid, and hence more
and transportation designs, plus facilitation effective decision making and problem
of public forums and focus groups. They solving on the city’s various boards and
and other youth leaders have contributed commissions. The investment is also made
substantially to the city’s last two in such as way that “relational organizing”
comprehensive plans. remains at the heart of the city’s strategy to
transform institutional cultures and provides
• Substantial investment in training, relational a continuous stream of leaders who will
organizing, and leadership development. stay in the city or return after college. While
The city invests in youth leadership we usually think of relational organizing in
development by its staff and by Alternatives, terms of faith-based community organizing
Inc. (through contracts with the Coalition (FBCO) in associations such as the
for Youth and the school system). The staff Industrial Areas Foundation, Gamaliel, and
of the Coalition for Youth mentor individual PICO (Warren 2001; Wood 2002), Hampton
youth leaders over many months and demonstrates that some (but by no means
even years as they move up the pyramid. all) of the core features of FBCO relational
The director of planning and a senior organizing can be made part of developing
city planner mentor the youth planners youth-adult partnerships within city
during their two-year terms. Alternatives, government and its governance networks.
Inc., likewise assigns staff to the youth
commission, various neighborhood youth OTHER CITIES WITH YOUTH COMMISSIONS AND
groups, and all the advisory boards (in each COUNCILS
school, the superintendent’s advisory, etc.).
There is a neighborhood/youth college that Hampton is not the only city with a youth
commission or youth council. And cities with
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

different political cultures and urban regimes (not with greater multiculturalism and/
to mention population size and diversity) could not or economic inequalities, there may
necessarily follow Hampton’s path. We thus need be greater tendency for the youth
to learn from other models and come to a better commission to be more fractious.
understanding of the comparative issues that
might foster or hinder innovation (San Francisco • Hampton was an early leader in
would be the richest comparative case for in-depth reinventing government. In cities
research). We also need to explore how federal that have not progressed very far in
policy might enable cities less well situated than flattening hierarchies, introducing
Hampton to develop systems that support youth collaborative planning, and engaging
empowerment. A few things that characterize citizens and neighborhoods, there may
Hampton should be kept in mind: be greater resistance to giving youth a
formal voice in governance.
• Hampton is a medium-sized city, which
is also relatively compact geographically. • Hampton has one dominant youth
Larger and/or more geographically services agency with a focus on youth
dispersed cities and counties might engagement (Alternatives, Inc.), which
have considerably greater difficulty has enjoyed a privileged relationship
getting the model adopted as (relatively) with the Coalition for Youth and
consistently and evenly as in Hampton. other city agencies. It has earned its
reputation over a long period of time. In
• Hampton has no contentious community cities with multiple agencies providing
organizing groups, such as ACORN, competing models of youth engagement,
or independent congregation-based it may be more difficult for the city to
organizing, such as IAF or PICO, work out consistent and complementary
or even community development relationships among the various
corporations (though one may have organizations. Hampton innovators,
recently been created). The presence however, believe that the Hampton
of social movements, including identity- system could have accommodated more
based youth organizing, seems low. In non-profit youth development agencies,
cities where independent community had they existed.
and social movement organizing were
higher, it might be more difficult to get San Francisco’s Youth Commission has some
partnership among so many agencies of the same functions and advantages as
and established leaders. Hampton’s (an official voice, formalized access
to political leaders, capacity for a coordinated
• Hampton has a nonpartisan city strategy across agencies, training, public
manager and council system with a convening, issuing of formal reports). But it
weak mayor. In cities where elections differs from Hampton in a number of ways:
were partisan and the mayor strong,
it may be more difficult for a youth • Independently organized youth
commission not to become politicized or movement. The youth commission
overly dependent on the mayor. was created as part of a grassroots
movement, led by Coleman Advocates,
• Hampton has relatively equal blocks of and was established only after a citywide
blacks and whites and lacks extreme referendum. The Bay Area has a vibrant
economic differences. In communities and very diverse youth movement,

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

including youth organizing through a Nonetheless, the long-time executive

variety of organizations. director of Coleman Advocates was
recently named as the head of DCYF,
• Strong policy review role. The mission which portends greater prominence for
of the youth commission is to advise YCE. Coleman, under its new director (a
the mayor and board of supervisors youth organizer), remains committed to
(who select youth commissioners) on “the revitalization of local democracy.”
children and youth issues. It assesses
laws, policies, and regulations and any Boston’s Mayor’s Youth Council. Composed
proposed changes in these. All bills of 34 high school juniors and seniors from
affecting youth must be sent to the each of the city’s major neighborhoods, the
commission for review. mayor’s youth council provides advice to the
mayor. Unlike Hampton and San Francisco,
• No dedicated office for youth civic there is no direct link to the city council/
engagement. While there is a youth board of supervisors. The core design is
commission, there is not the same promising in that it requires the delegates to
kind of office dedicated to catalyzing build relationships with all the youth service
best practices across agencies. The agencies in their neighborhoods, including the
youth commission staff of three is community centers with adult youth workers
proportionally much smaller than the and peer leaders. However, the staff of the
staff of the Coalition for Youth and council has been skeletal (one full-time adult
Alternatives, Inc., in Hampton who staff). As a result, leadership development is
devote themselves to YCE. However, much thinner than in the other cities (especially
the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Hampton). The youth council co-sponsors a
Department of Children, Youth, and youth summit every spring (for the past 10
the Families (DCYF), which had three years of its existence), with more than one
youth representatives, conducted a thousand youth in attendance. While there is
needs assessment in 2001 to fulfill the much good work going on under the auspices of
mandates of the new Children’s Fund the youth council and other youth organizations
(from a dedicated tax of $.03 per $100 in the city, there seems to be no coordinated
of assessed property valuation). In strategy that penetrates very deeply into
addition to various survey methods, the institutional cultures or professional practices.
assessment involved facilitated dialogues Some of the leading practitioners of teen
with 400 citizens, half of whom were empowerment in the city do not take the work
under 18; and Youth in Focus conducted of the youth council very seriously as a result of
a youth-led evaluation (Youth IMPACT) its minimal staffing and its direct dependence
based on a survey of over 700 youth, on the mayor.
as well as focus groups and participant
observation. The advisory committee Other Cities. Various other cities and counties
recommended greater emphasis on now have youth commissions or councils (Grand
community building among youth, Rapids, Marin County, San Mateo, Indianapolis,
leadership development, and youth- Kokomo, Boulder, Boise). There does not
led evaluation of all programs funded appear to be much research on these. A few
by the city. However, unlike the initial interviews I conducted, as well as websites
Hampton report in the early 1990s, that I reviewed, reveal a range of activities:
the report contains no overall vision youth philanthropy, sponsoring youth issues
built around youth civic engagement. and policy forums, advocating youth rights.

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

The National League of Cities has helped Oregon). We should, of course, not repeat the
propagate youth councils and commissions with mistakes of these designs, or of ones like the
funding from MetLife, but the funding has been Empowerment Zones (Gittell 2001). But we should
relatively modest. Nonetheless, NLC would be explore municipal YCE systems as an important
available for a much more ambitious campaign type of “policy design for democracy” (Ingram and
if further support were provided. Smith 1993) and thematize investments as part of
the essential costs of democracy, parallel to how
Federal policy design. We should explore the Holmes and Sunstein (1999) forthrightly address
possibilities of a federal program that might: the “cost of rights.” And we should begin to think
a) provide funding and guidance to help city of framing this in a way that might help develop
governments build innovative, interagency a strategy among city governments and other
systems for YCE; and b) help build the capacity of potential supporters in the YCE field and beyond.
intermediary organizations like the National League
of Cities, International City/County Management _____________
Association, National Civic League, and American ENDNOTES
Planning Association, as well as YCE intermediaries, 1 Hampton’s youth are 52% African American,
to promote best practices, training, etc. (in much 40% white, and 8% other, mostly mixed race.
the same way that Learn and Serve grants have
helped build the capacity of a broad range of 2 I conducted fieldwork in Hampton in May
service-learning intermediaries in K-12 and higher 2002 and interviews with agency officials, youth
education). The policy design should contain development leaders, and young people between
incentives to make such municipal YCE systems as 2001-05. I have also examined documents dating
complementary as possible to the civic mission of back to 1990, when the collaborative planning
schools (Gibson and Levine 2003), colleges, and process began, as well as several articles written
universities, as well as to other city-sponsored on the Hampton experience by its leaders.
systems for citizen participation. The YCE models
of Hampton, San Francisco, and Boston, as well as 3 Two of the private high schools are located in
other city-sponsored models in community policing, neighboring Newport News.
neighborhood associations, and community
planning (and, indeed, other assets-based
community development models), demonstrate BIBLIOGRAPHY
that we are far beyond some of the conundrums American Political Science Association, Standing
of federally mandated “maximum feasible Committee on Civic Education and Engagement.
participation” (Community Action), “widespread 2005 (forthcoming). Democracy at Risk: Renewing
citizen participation” (Model Cities), “consumer the Political Science of Citizenship. Washington,
participation” (Health Systems Agencies), or DC: Brookings.
“citizen participation” of much environmental
legislation in the 1960s and 1970s (Sirianni and Berry, Jeffrey, Kent Portney, and Ken Thomson.
Friedland 2001; contrast Morone 1990). Keep in 1993. The Rebirth of Urban Democracy.
mind that the CSAP grant was critical to Hampton’s Washington, DC: Brookings.
capacity to innovate; U.S. Department of Justice
(and Illinois state) funding has been critical to Carlson, Cindy. 2005 (forthcoming). “The Hampton
Chicago’s community policing design and process Experience: Creating a Model and a Context for
of evaluation and continual improvement; and Youth Civic Engagement,” Journal of Community
Community Action and Model Cities were critical Practice.
to helping catalyze some of the best citywide
neighborhood association models (Portland, _______. 2005. in PEGS.

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

Irby, Merita, Thaddeus Ferber, and Karen Pittman.

Checkoway, Barry, et al. (2005). Youth Participation With Joel Tolman and Nicole Yohalem. 2001.
in Public Policy at the Municipal Level,” Children and Youth Action: Youth Contributing to Communities,
Youth Services Review 27, 1149-1162. Communities Supporting Youth. Community and
Youth Development Series, volume 6. Takoma Park,
Chicago Community Policing Evaluation MD: The Forum for Youth Investment, International
Consortium, Community Policing in Chicago, Year Youth Foundation.
Ten
Morone, James. 1990. The Democratic Wish:
Crenson, Matthew A. and Benjamin Ginsberg. Popular Participation and the Limits of American
2002. Downsizing Democracy: How America Government. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
2003. Advancing Environmental Justice through
Diers, Jim. 2004. Neighbor Power: Building Pollution Prevention. Washington, DC: U.S.
Community the Seattle Way. Seattle, WA: Environmental Protection Agency.
University of Washington Press.
__________. 2004. Ensuring Risk Reduction
Fung, Archon. 2004. Empowered Participation: in Communities with Multiple Stressors:
Reinventing Urban Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Environmental Justice and Cumulative Risks/
Princeton University Press. Impacts. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
Gibson, Cynthia and Levine, Peter. 2003. The Civic
Mission of Schools. New York, NY and College Park, Schneider, Anne Larason and Helen Ingram. 1997.
MD: Carnegie Corporation and CIRCLE: The Center Policy Design for Democracy. Lawrence: University
for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Press of Kansas.
Engagement.
Sirianni, Carmen and Lewis A. Friedland. 2001.
Gittell, Marilyn, Kathe Newman, and Francois Civic Innovation in America. Berkeley, CA:
Pierre-Louis. 2001. Empowerment Zones: An University of California Press.
Opportunity Missed. New York, NY: Howard
Samuels State Management and Policy Center. ________. 2005. The Civic Renewal Movement:
Community Building and Democracy in the United
Gudell, J. Erik and Wesley G. Skogan. 2003. States. Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation Press.
Community Mobilization for Community Policing.
Community Policing Program Working Paper no. 24. Skogan, Wesley G. and Susan Hartnett, Community
Evanston, IL: Northwestern University, Institute for Policing, Chicago Style (New York: Oxford
Policy Research. University Press, 1997),

Holmes, Stephen and Cass R. Sunstein. 1999. The Skogan, Wesley G., Susan M. Hartnett, Jill DuBois,
Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes. New Jennifer T. Comey, Marianne Kaiser, and Justine H.
York, NY: Norton. Lovig. 1999. On The Beat: Police and Community
Problem Solving. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Ingram, Helen and Steven Rathgeb Smith (eds.).
1993. Public Policy for Democracy. Washington, DC: Stone, Clarence N., Jeffrey R. Henig, Bryan D.
Brookings. Jones, and Carol Pierannunzi. 2001. Building Civic
Capacity: The Politics of Reforming Urban Schools.

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Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.

Sullivan, William M. 1995. Work and Integrity: The

Crisis and Promise of Professionalism in America.
New York, NY: Harper Business.

Thomson, Ken Joanne Bissetta and Thomas Webb.

1994. Participation Works. Medford. MA: Lincoln
Filene Cente.

Warren, Mark R. 2001. Dry Bones Rattling:

Community Building to Revitalize American
Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press.

Weir, Margaret. 1999. “Power, Money, and Politics

in Community Development,” in Ronald Ferguson
and William Dickens, eds., Urban Problems and
Community Development. Washington, DC:
Brookings.

Wood, Richard L. 2002. Faith in Action: Religion,

Race, and Democratic Organizing in America.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

THE LIFEWORLDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE recognized that their best chance in life was to go
to college and believed, in some cases falsely, that
AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
to get into any college they required a relatively
LEWIS A. FRIEDLAND AND SHAUNA MORIMOTO
long and developed service resume. Clearly this
pressure was generated by the larger competitive
environment, the expectations of parents and
This brief report outlines the key findings of a year
significant adult others, and a more general
and a half long-study of both the civic environment
uncertainty about the future.
of youth and the broader lifeworlds which young
people inhabit, the environment in which they
Young people, like their parents, face a series
make decisions about whether and how to engage
of choices and constraints that make up an
in civic and political life. Our study has been
environment in which they make decisions about
ethnographic, based in observations and interviews
how to invest their time. But certain goals seem to
in multiple settings: schools, civic and after school
press themselves most urgently–the desire to not
activities, informal places, political demonstrations,
slip down the class ladder; the hope of maintaining
and one-on-one settings. We studied 100 young
or improving on one’s parents’ position; the
people in four high schools and various other
recognition that college is the most important
settings in Madison, Wisconsin. We think that the
means to attain either goal. From these goals, an
problems and life-orientations that we uncovered
ensemble of civic possibilities follow which leaves
could be found among significant numbers of youth
less room for choice and agency than the prevailing
in any city in America.
understanding of youth civic engagement would
indicate.
Our main finding is simple. While there were many
issues that came up in our interviews, a single
Briefly, we found a range of types of engagement:
theme about the meaning of civic engagement
highly engaged youth, bound for elite or upper level
appeared repeatedly: “resume padding.” Young
schools, who were training for leadership; youth
people told us, in various ways and registers, that
oriented towards general volunteerism, sometimes
while there was often some other reason that
with charitable orientations toward helping others;
they were participating in a county youth board
civic youth, engaging on county youth boards or
or school or community service program–helping
in high school associations; political youth; and
others, creating change, having fun with friends–
youth oriented towards their own communities,
the one consistent theme was that participation
often minorities, who expressed a connection
was necessary to get into a decent college.
that went beyond helping others to helping their
Further, and we want to stress, this finding was
own local neighborhoods. None of these types of
not limited to those of the middle- or upper-middle
engagement can be reduced to resume padding.
classes. Young people of all class strata, races,
But, with the partial exception of the community
and ethnic backgrounds told us that they needed
youth, the need to demonstrate service for external
“something” to put on their resumes, and this was
and instrumental reasons was a major note for all.
so whether their goal was the local community
college, a state school with quasi-open admission,
We saw cross cutting currents for each group of
the state flagship university, or a highly competitive
young people that made up their lifeworlds, a term
private school.
of art drawn from phenomenological sociology and
used as a master term by Jürgen Habermas. At
We think this is important. The kind of pressure
its simplest, the lifeworld is the lived environment
for college admission that we found was nearly
of everyday culture that surrounds us (including
universal. Very few young people, regardless of
language), that provides the deep background
class, in our sample did not clearly and explicitly
against which we carve out our assumptions about
link their life chances to college admission. They

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reality, and through which we navigate the social people live in an increasingly media-saturated
world. The lifeworlds of the young people that culture–it still seems that much research on youth
we interviewed were saturated with several major civic engagement abstracts from it as if it did not
sets of assumptions that shaped all of the other exist, and that’s the question we hope to put on
decisions that they made. First, as we have already the table for the conference. It may be true that
said, are the assumptions about their future lives, programs can be designed to predict longitudinal
and how they will confront them, about schooling effects of participation in similar programs as
and career, if they have been raised to think about young people age. And best cases in local
these things, and, regardless, about money and communities in which adults intensively focus on a
the future. These form, as the sociologist Ulrich small core of young people can produce remarkable
Beck has written, a horizon of risk or uncertainty examples of youth civic participation in community
that is palpable among all but the most secure (and development, public work, or the environment.
even for these future leaders the extraordinary It also may be true that intensive marketing to
competition for elite college admission colors and youth, e.g. in the 2004 political campaign, can
directs their lives from ninth grade on). Of course, raise voting rates and produce higher click-through
whether the students were upper-middle, middle, rates at youth-oriented civic web sites. But we are
or working class greatly affected their orientations, not sure that any of these phenomena addresses
as did whether they came from minority the possibility of a youth civic politics that begins
communities. But the calculation of chances was a to address the core lifeworld issues in which young
thread that ran through each group. people are ensnared: the paucity of viable career
paths, the enormous pressure to succeed or risk
The omnipresent status system of high school slipping backward, the sense of being an object
was the second major lifeworld environment, as of constant marketing campaigns, the difficulty of
was its corollary consumption of media and status building social and cultural community within the
goods. At one level this is obvious, but we think high school where one can be oneself.
it has been greatly underestimated in the current
understanding of youth civic engagement. The This is consonant with our research. We found
negotiation of personal identity for high school a number of cases of young people who tried to
youth is, at least, a powerful three-headed hydra: address these issues, even obliquely, and were
the expectations of parents passed down as future shut down. Even in high schools where “civic
orientations just discussed: the expectations engagement” was explicitly encouraged, students
of the high-school status system, which still who worked to change the lunchroom menu were
powerfully replicates the experience of upper-, discouraged. Some students were concerned that
middle-, and lower castes; and the pressures of particular classes being offered in the service-
the media system to consume, both the latest learning curriculum were good in theory, but they
products of the media system itself and consumer knew they were never going to actually happen.
goods that demonstrate status. These all cross- But they could do little to shape the rules of the
cut through styles of consumption in music and larger curriculum. And these examples could be
clothing that remain powerful markers of who one replicated throughout our study and, certainly, in
is and associates with, and who counts. And this almost any high school in the U.S. Students are
intersection shapes both the space for deciding allowed and even encouraged to engage civically
what kinds of “civic” activities to engage in and with anything other than the institution that most
their meaning. directly shapes their lives.

As self-evident as this all may seem–that young In part, the difficulty in conceptualizing these
people face great pressure to succeed, that high problems as a part of youth civic engagement may
school is stratified and often cruel, that young be precisely because these are lifeworld issues,

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

part of the larger social and cultural environment.

But it is possible that a more democratic youth
politics may have to address these issues to be
relevant. Our understanding of the civic and
the political may be too narrow, framed in the
terms of political science, rather than the politics
of everyday life. If Dewey was even remotely
correct in his understanding of publics and how
they form, if publics form around the real problems
that citizens face and are shaped in the search
for common solutions, then we may be looking
in the wrong direction in thinking about youth
political and civic engagement. We may have to
build bridges between a more direct politics of the
lifeworld of young people and the larger civic and
political worlds we are asking them to engage.

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THREE POINTS RELEVANT TO RESEARCH ON YOUTH value to society and economy, more education
may have either no positive effect on enhancing
ENGAGEMENT
equality or instead, a negative effect. Indeed, more
JANE JUNN
education in American society over the last quarter
century has not produced a commensurate rise in
I raise three points for consideration in anticipation
many social, economic, and political outcomes.
of our discussion of strategies for enhancing
youth engagement. My comments are less of an
While formal education may encourage the
enumeration of the substantive issues at stake, and
development of cognitive ability and individual
more of a theoretical and methodological précis
resources, it may also be the case that these
for the forthcoming research agenda on the nexus
skills are less relevant to one’s placement in the
between institutions and youth engagement.
hierarchy of American life. Instead, the important
of education to stratification may be the role it
1. Institutions should be both broadly conceived
plays as a powerful socialization device, teaching
as well as scrutinized as potential impediments to
students who are successful and who progress
the development of civic attitudes and behaviors
through educational institutions to also become
among young people.
initiated into the hierarchical norms of commerce,
politics, and social life. In short, education may
This seems like an obvious point, but I think it
be a particularly effective means of reproducing
is worth reminding ourselves that even those
cultural, political, and economic practices. As
institutions we think are good for civic engagement
one of the primary mechanisms behind social
can have potentially devastating and debilitating
stratification, education can also be conceived
consequences. Let me briefly delineate one such
as exactly the opposite from an equalizing force.
American institution: education. Among the most
Instead, education may reproduce and legitimate
powerful institutions in U.S. society, education is of
structural inequalities that in turn drive vast
particular interest to scholars of political behavior
disparities in wealth, and nurture the persistence
because of the strong and positive relationship
of the dominance of the in-group to the systematic
between educational attainment and political
disadvantage of out-groups. How can education be
participation at the individual level. If there is a
understood simultaneously as both an equalizing
consistent refrain in the vast literature concerning
force and a stratification mechanism? Education
education in America, it is that it is good – good
both enables and restricts; it is a location for
for democracy, for employment, for social
the development of both individual agency and
mobility, for building strong communities, and
structural constraint.
for democratic values such as political tolerance.
Education is most often viewed as a resource
Disadvantaged groups stay that way not only
that, when fairly distributed, can provide equal
by virtue of their relatively low placement in
opportunities for individuals in society to succeed.
the educational hierarchy, but also because the
This conception of education, however, is at odds
legitimacy of this unequal structure is propagated
with a seemingly divergent conclusion that places
in part by American educational institutions
education among the most powerful stratifiers in
themselves. Rather than sitting outside of the
modern post-industrial society. The very same data
political, economic, and social structures that
that pinpoint the critical importance of education
reinforce inequality and domination, education is
to social, political, and economic outcomes and
a part of it. Education plays two important roles in
inform the position that more education is good,
the maintenance of an ideology of meritocracy in
also simultaneously identify education as the main
the United States. In its sorting function, formal
mechanism driving the maintenance of inequality
education confers certification, degrees and other
and hierarchy where the outcomes are scarce.
scarce outcomes that places those with what are
In these instances, rather than adding aggregate

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

defined as the best credentials at the top of the American citizens of Japanese ancestry during
hierarchy, and those with lesser near the bottom. World War II? Yet for many students, particularly
In its role as a powerful socializer, education those of minority and immigrant backgrounds,
teaches the ideology of meritocracy, by grading these are not surprising or embarrassing anomalies
on normal curves and assuring those who finish whose practice have now been outlawed. Rather,
on the right tail that they will succeed because from where these young people sit, discrimination
they deserve to. The second role is critical, for is a norm of everyday politics that is felt palpably
it is necessary to have some mechanism which in economic, social, and civic life. Inequality and
reliably reproduces the ideology that maintains barriers to action structure rather than pepper their
the positions of power for those at the top who daily lives, and concepts such as freedom, fairness,
benefit from the system as it already exists. When equality, justice, and even democracy are far from
outcomes are positional or scarce – when not unambiguous.
everyone can be rich, and not everyone can be
granted admission into a top school – the liberal 2. Frames of reference for drawing conclusions and
democratic ideology must have an answer to its recommending policy must be explicit and clearly
production of unequal outcomes. Merit can be delineated.
used as a justification for inequality of outcomes
in a system where the rules are supposed to be This caution is relevant for all kinds of group
fair. Viewing education as an institution supporting comparisons, including those within cohort by
both the development of both individual agency race, ethnicity, gender, and class, as well as for
as well as and structural constraints is a gentle juxtapositions across groups of individuals in
if unpleasant reminder that policies that seek to various stages of the life cycle, and between
redress the consequences of political inequality generations such as “baby boomers” versus
cannot assume that providing more resources for “generation X.” In particular, and when drawing
competition in an unequal system will eliminate the conclusions about young people today, we need
inequality. to be very careful to ground those observations
about whether civic engagement is high or low,
More concretely, civic education curricula often deep or shallow within the context of the behavior
highlight how politics in the United States is a of contemporary groups and that of similarly
study in both conflict and cooperation between situated groups at other points in time. Finally,
people, interests, and ideologies. In the texts and for research to make inferential progress, I
accompanying these courses, government is most recommend we consider privileging longitudinal
often portrayed as an arbiter in the process of studies that include a panel design. While cross-
struggle and accommodation between groups. sectional data can be very illuminating, even
Assuming a neutral and ostensibly fair democratic multiple synchronic studies at distinct time points
structure combined with a companion notion of (with different populations) provide less analytical
equality of agency presents a set of perplexing leverage to say whether and how things change
inconsistencies for students when they are over time, and which institutions and policies are
confronted with realities of injustice in America. most efficacious.
As recently as fifty years ago, how could southern
states use literacy tests at election precincts for 3. Research should attempt to go beyond the
selected individuals with questions such as: “How individual as unit of analysis, incorporating
many bubbles are in this bar of soap?” How, in historical and institutional context where possible.
the greatest democracy in the world and under
the leadership of one of the greatest Presidents This is, of course, easier said than done. But one
in modern U.S. history, could the U.S. Supreme of the most problematic things about research on
Court uphold the constitutionality of imprisoning civic education interventions is that the focus of

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

evaluation is most often on the young person. In politically active as adults. But for others, the
some regards, this is both logical and empowering; civic education curriculum is their political power,
we want to see positive changes in the behavior and while perhaps inspiring in its own right, that
of young people. But when there is either no power is substantially diminished once they exit
change, or when there is change in the opposite the classroom door and re-enter the reality of their
direction (less engagement), what comes under lives characterized by a relatively low position in
scrutiny most often are the students themselves. the social, economic, and political hierarchy. As a
Let me give you a hypothetical example of a civic result, incentives for activity are diminished not
education program valorizing units of the American only because money, time, and political motivation
federal justice system in the post-September 11 are scarce at home, but also because political
era. Try the program in a Detroit suburb where responsiveness does not follow the resource-
there is a heavy concentration of Arab-American poor at the same rate it follows the advantaged.
residents, and in a socio-economically similar Mediating institutions such as political parties
area of metropolitan Philadelphia with a small have not effectively mobilized new immigrant
immigrant and non-white population. The results populations, and remain resistant to doing so,
of a program evaluation are all too predictable. It further diminishing the influence of marginalized
does not work well in the former, and does better groups. Post-intervention evaluations measuring
in the latter; post-intervention data make the a laundry list of good citizenship behaviors and
Detroit students look like less desirable citizens attitudes such as interest in politics, efficacy,
for not demonstrating an increase in their support knowledge, and forms of political participation
of democracy and trust in institutions compared such as contacting officials, making campaign
with the mostly white students in the Philadelphia contributions, voting, and working with others in
suburb. Well-intentioned though they may be in the local community, will likely demonstrate the
attempting to increase characteristics of good strongest and most persistent effects in populations
democratic citizenship and social capital such as who already control democratic processes, and the
trust, civic education programs that privilege one weakest effects among disadvantaged populations.
version of a true democratic creed can yield results In politics as in economy, the rich get richer.
that exacerbate rather than alleviate prejudice.
Similarly, civic education curricula attempting to As far as civic education programs aimed at
increase political activity and interest in politics increasing youth political engagement are
through greater exposure and activity in current concerned, I suggest that modes of political
political issues and local electoral contests, for participation such as voting or making a campaign
example, have a different but related problem. contribution are implicitly acts in support of the
Popular strategies in this vein include connecting maintenance of a political system which may not
groups of students to candidates running for be in the best interests for people who benefit
office, and organizing classrooms to lobby local least from that system. Rather than assume
officials about a community concern with the goal the same set of conditions equally structures
of empowering students to make a difference in the costs and incentives of political activity,
the system. These semester- or year-long civic interpretations of findings need to provide space
education programs have the best chance of for the likelihood that strategic calculations among
producing measurable consequences for students individuals categorized by race and ethnicity vary
who have the resources and structural incentives to systematically as a function of the location of
work with and in the system to accomplish political their group in the social and political hierarchy.
goals. For them, the light bulb of political efficacy Suspending the assumption that groups ought to
and significance of politics to their daily lives might see participation in the political system as desirable
indeed illuminate, and consequently motivate them provides the opportunity to train the lens away
to follow current events more closely and become from the failings of the curriculum or inactive

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

and apathetic youth, and instead focus scrutiny those traditionally disadvantaged and politically
on the practices and institutions of democracy underrepresented, for more voice will create
that may themselves inhibit the achievement of pressure to develop public policies that take their
equality. A companion assumption accompanying interests into account. Under circumstances of
the notion that individuals have equal agency in relatively modest rates of political activity among
politics is one about representation – that more minorities, what falls under scrutiny for change
participatory input from citizens means that there are the individuals who supposedly influence the
will be more responsiveness from elected political process of democratic government, rather than
officials, and consequently better policies. These the institutions and practices themselves. But if
are reasonable assumptions, neither of which I am we relax the assumption that the political process
in disagreement with in principle. At the same time, provides equality of agency for all, then the
however, they are precisely that; assumptions comparatively low rates of participatory activity
about which research in political science provide among minority Americans can be interpreted
little certainty. in another way, as an indicator of the structural
inequalities present.
The equality of individual agency assumption
makes a lot of sense in that it is something we
want to believe. One more semester of a particular
civic engagement curriculum will garner the same
increase in political engagement for whites as for
Blacks. But if there is evidence that there is an
interaction between antecedents to political activity
– a set of structural constraints that present
unequal contexts for opportunity among individuals
classified by race and ethnicity – then the
assumption becomes much more problematic. The
same is true for the representation assumption. If
it is the case that participation from disadvantaged
populations receives the same attention and
action as from those who can make substantial
campaign contributions, then the assumption is
justifiable. But if there is something in the political
process that systematically advantages some to the
disadvantage of other, it requires reconsideration.

The relevance of these two assumptions regarding

equality of individual agency and the efficacy of
participation for civic education lies in the ultimate
aim of efforts to teach democracy to youth in order
to increase political engagement and activity. In the
current climate, advocating more citizen activity
seems obviously normatively appealing. Expanding
voice and deliberation, particularly in a time of
growing diversity in the United States, should help
to forward democracy and solve distributional
inequities in social and political goods. In this
view, more participation is especially important for

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their action as being expressly ‘political,’ these

RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF POLITICAL preoccupations do lead to political mobilization.4
These new forms of participation clearly break the
PARTICIPATION AND RESPONSIBILITY-TAKING traditional boundaries between the public and the
DIETLIND STOLE private sphere; some authors have heralded this
in collaboration with transition as the advent of ‘subpolitics,’ where daily
life decisions take on a strong political meaning.5
MICHELE MICHELETTI and MARC HOOGHE
For example, the participation in a recycling project
can contribute to a feeling of connection with large-
Citizens in advanced industrialized democracies, scale environmental issues, without requiring any
especially younger generations, prefer participating formal memberships or ideological identification
in non-hierarchical and informal networks, in
addition to a variety of life-style related sporadic Third, these new forms of participation tend to
mobilization efforts. Membership in informal mobilize in a very characteristic way. On the one
local parental groups, the tendency to consume hand, they rely on apparently spontaneous and
politically, membership in advocacy networks, the irregular mobilization. The signing of petitions, or
regular signing and forwarding of e-mail petitions, participation in protests and consumer boycotts
and the spontaneous organization of protests and all seem based on spontaneity, irregularity, easy
rallies are just a few examples of this phenomenon. exit and the possibility of shifting-in and shifting-
out. This is certainly the case with new, more
Although we are confronted with a large diversity emotion-driven forms of protest and mobilization.
in these new action repertoires, they have common On the other hand, the rise of various check-book
characteristics with regard to: 1) their structure; organizations implies that passive members will
2) the substantive issues they address; 3) the become more important than has been the case
ways in which they mobilize, and; 4) the style of in traditional mass-membership organisations.
involvement by individual members. First, these Check-book activism does not rely on intensive and
new forms of participation abandon traditional (that regular face-to-face contact between members,
is to say formal and bureaucratic) organizational and the organizational model of these organizations
structures in favour of horizontal and more flexible no longer stresses voluntary participation in local
ones. Loose connections, in other words, are chapters. Check-book membership organizations
rapidly replacing static bureaucracies.1 Instead of operate mostly on a national scale, with a
collaborating in formal umbrella structures, these professional staff relying on print and electronic
grassroots associations opt for co-operation in media to stay in touch with their members.6
flexible and horizontal networks that are better Such memberships, too, allow for easy exit and
adapted to the needs of information-driven spontaneous irregular involvement, which renders
societies.2 This kind of network structure can this type of network much more vulnerable to
also be found in various global organizations and sudden fluctuations in its membership base and
mobilization efforts, which rely on loose contacts thus its income.7
and electronic communication to co-ordinate
their actions for reform in trade regimes, labour Fourth and finally, new forms of participation are
practices, human rights or environmental quality.3 potentially less collective and group-oriented in
character. This is the case even though they might
Second, in general these new initiatives are be triggered by larger societal concerns (such
also less concerned with institutional affairs, as global injustice), organized and supported by
such as party politics, which brings them into advocacy networks and other loose organizations,
sharp contrast with more traditional political and also have aggregate consequences (a change
organisations. Life-style elements are being of corporate practices, for example). Despite
politicized and although the actors no longer label
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

all this, the actual act of participation is often It also assumes that problems can be
individualized in character, whether this involves avoided or solved by regulating production.
the decision to forward a selected e-mail as did Thus, identifying limits for corporate and
Jonah Peretti, who subsequently triggered a institutional actions, finding the liable party,
world-wide response to Nike’s footwear production and holding them accountable for damages
practices,8 or whether it involves the decision to and so on has been the modern state’s main
purchase a certain product for ethical reasons.9 way of asserting its supreme responsibility.
Such individualized acts do not necessarily lead to
group interaction or face-to-face meetings of the Globalization has weakened the
kind we typically encounter in unions, voluntary effectiveness of the state as a responsibility-
groups, regular council meetings, and so forth. making institution. The “nation-state
Passive memberships in check-book organisations container” (Beck) of state authority
are relatively individualised acts as well. This leads suggests that one government’s regulatory
to a certain paradox: while this form of protest policy cannot reign over the policy and
and participation can be seen as an example of co- practices of another government. For
ordinated collective action, most participants simply example, the environmental and labor
perform this act alone, at home before a computer policy that governs (commands and
screen, or in a supermarket. controls) corporations nationally cannot
hold them liable for their doings in another
WHAT ARE THE FACTORS BEHIND THE state’s jurisdiction. Thus, wrong-doings in
CHANGE OF CITIZENS’ (PARTICULARLY
one setting may not be classified as such in
YOUNG CITIZENS’) ACTION REPERTOIRES?
another. Thus, the “nation-state” character
of government regulatory policy as well
Large-scale societal transformations explain
as weaknesses in government authority
this shift in political action repertoires. We use
in certain settings lead scholars, policy-
the growing interest in political consumerism
makers, and activists to consider new
and culture jamming among young people
models of political responsibility.
as an example here.10 One could argue that
the reasons for this shift in participation
Markets also matter. They have undergone
repertoires toward political consumerism are
two dramatic changes in character over the
related to the changing ability to address
past few decades. First, free trade policy
issues of global justice. Transformations of
has given corporations the opportunity to
the regulatory power of states, the new role
produce an increasing number of goods at
of markets and consumers are helpful here in
lower prices in countries other then their
explaining this phenomenon.
retail market. Secondly, corporations that
produce goods for the consumer market
We see this development embedded in
are increasingly buyer-driven, implying
changing notions of responsibility-taking.
that they invest an ever-growing amount
Traditional political responsibility is premised
of resources into producing a logotype and
on the existence of strong state authority
corporate image and culture than in their
and easily identified targets of public policy
physical means of production.
reform that can be made to conform to the
dictates of public law. It assumes that the CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY-TAKING.
state is sufficiently strong (has the authority)
to regulate sectors of the economy and Finally, consumers’ individualization
that its reach (the arm of the state) is and the desire to “over-consume” is
sufficiently long for regulating corporate accompanied by a growing awareness
and other production-oriented practices. of the shaded environmental and social
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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

justice costs of consumer goods produced eds., Politics, Products and Markets. (New
by distanced commodity chains. Political, Brunswick: Transaction Press, 2004), pp. 101-126;
ethical, and green consumerism as well Levi, Margaret and David Olson, ‘The Battle in
as fair trade are a few of the terms used Seattle,’ Politics and Society, 28(3) (2000), 309-
to characterize consumer awareness about 329.
the negative effects of Western production
and consumption practices globally. What 4 Bennett, W. Lance, ‘The UnCivic Culture.
is interesting is that political consumers Communication, Identity, and the Rise of Lifestyle
also exhibit the first two characteristics. Politics.’ Political Science and Politics, 31(4)
They want fashion and good quality at low (1998), 741-761; Bennett, ‘Branded Political
prices, but they also give consideration to Communication: Lifestyle Politics, Logo Campaigns,
how manufacturing affects the environment and the Rise of Global Citizenship’; Eliasoph,
and working conditions, and animal Avoiding Politics.
rights. They also tend to have a more
negative view of the role of multinational 5 Beck, The Reinvention of Politics.
corporations globally, and they believe
that they can use their market decisions 6 Wollebæk, Dag & Per Selle, ‘The Importance of
to affect change (survey materials confirm Passive Membership for Social Capital Formation,’
these assertions). in Marc Hooghe & Dietlind Stolle, eds., Generating
Social Capital (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 67-
The lack of state capacity, the changing 88.
roles and actions of corporations, as
well as consumers lead to new ways 7 Skocpol, Theda, Diminished Democracy. From
of “discovering responsibility” (Young). Membership to Management in American Civic Life.
A variety of terms—stakeholder, audit (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
society, transparency, accountability, and
answerability—capture this development 8 Peretti, Jonah and Michelle Micheletti, ‘The Nike
(Power). Network-based transnational Sweatshop Email: Political Consumerism, Internet,
collective action is increasingly seen as and Culture Jamming’ in Michelle Micheletti,
an interesting problem-solving tool to Andreas Føllesdal and Dietlind Stolle, eds., Politics,
create private political consumerist private Products, and Markets (New Brunswick: Transaction
governance. Press, 2004), pp. 127-144.

9 Micheletti, Michelle, Andreas Føllesdal and

_________ Dietlind Stolle, eds., Politics, Products, and
ENDNOTES Markets: Exploring Political Consumerism Past and
Present (New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 2004).
1 Wuthnow, Robert, Loose Connections. Joining
Together in America’s Fragmented Communities 10 Political consumerism is the choice of products
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998). and producesr based on ethical and political
values, see more in Micheletti Follesdal and Stolle
2 Castells, The Rise of the Network Society. 2004. Culture jamming is one form of political
consumerism often utilized by young people who
3 Bennett, W. Lance, ‘Branded Political criticize multi-national corporations using corporate
Communication: Lifestyle Politics, Logo Campaigns, images.
and the Rise of Global Citizenship,’ in Michelle
Micheletti, Andreas Føllesdal and Dietlind Stolle,

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HOW STRUCTURES INFLUENCE THE POLITICS OF

Thus, it would be interesting to have a better
ENGAGEMENT: SOME POSSIBILITIES
understanding of the following kinds of issues:
FOR RESEARCH • How do features of various institutions
JOSEPH KAHNE (campaigns, schools, media, religion, etc.)
and the associated experiences students
Much recent work argues that there is a “new have with them shape both engagement and
student politics” – that young people think about the ideological/political priorities students
politics differently (often with less trust of the bring to this engagement?
political process and less interest in it) than other • Are there particular experiences or
generations. This has prompted some to try to arguments that students hear that lead to
understand how institutions may help to shape shifts in students’ ideological perspectives?
levels of political and civic engagement and In turn, how do these perspectives impact
the ways such institutional structures may lead decisions about whether/how to engage?
some youth to emphasize service rather than • If some experiences or arguments prompt
politics. This work is important. But it also seems shifts, what institutions foster such
important to understand the how institutions (and experiences or become forums for such
features of these institutions) can help shape arguments to be voiced?
students’ ideological frames (their perspective
on government, capitalism, unions, religion, To the extent possible, it would be helpful to
multinationals…) that in turn shape young people’s frame these ideologies and forms of engagement
perspectives on issues (affirmative action, same in young people’s terms rather than our standard
sex marriage, taxes, environmental policy, etc.). frameworks – unless, of course, that’s how they
To some extent, studying “the new student politics” think/talk about them. In either case, it will also
by focusing on engagement with politics, but be important to make meaningful links between
not on ideologies or political perspectives, takes the ways they think about all of this and how their
the politics out of the study of “the new student thinking differs from other age cohorts in terms of
politics”… developmental theory. For example, if adolescents
engage with authority figures differently than
For a broad set of questions, I’d propose older cohorts, if they tend to care about different
something like the following: How have major issues, and if their socio-political identities are in a
institutions (media, religion, political parties, the greater state of flux than others, we might expect
partisan qualities of communities, etc.) helped experiences with institutions to influence them
shape students’ ideological perspectives? and Do differently than they may influence others.
ideological perspectives influence the amount and So there’s a descriptive element to the study
forms of student engagement? When/How? In I’m proposing that would map these ideological
saying this, I don’t mean to imply that the “new frameworks around engagement and perhaps a
student politics” reflects a particular political few key issues. This would be coupled with an
orientation. I’d love to learn more about the effort to understand the ways different institutions
factors that push orientations in varied directions and features of these institutions have helped
and if/how those orientations relate to students’ both create these frames and influenced the
perspectives on political engagement. perspectives students take with respect to different
political issues.
Similarly, I would not expect that “the media” in its
entirety or all “religious institutions” have a specific In doing this work, it would be important that
impact on young people. I’d be interested in the our sample include different groups (social class,
impact of particular forms of media or religious ethnicity, race, gender, recentness of immigration,
institutions or experiences with them….

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

etc.) so that we can get a better sense of how/

when diversity matters – and doesn’t.
To say that we should focus on the ways young
people think and talk is not to say that we should
necessarily affirm elements of the “new student
politics.” We might well want to discuss how
their categories and perspectives relate to some
conventional categories. We just shouldn’t start
with the conventional categories. In addition,
we might well want to connect some of their
perspectives on engagement to a normative
democratic theory and discuss some of the
strengths and possible weaknesses of particular
orientations towards engagement from the
standpoint of what’s needed realize the promise of
democracy.

If we identify institutional factors that shape both

the development of ideological perspectives and
factors that lead to changes in these perspectives,
we may be able to develop a better sense of the
connection between major institutions on the one
hand, and the “new student politics” on the other.

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PROPOSALS FOR SUSTAINING through the semester as Election Day approached

THE TURNOUT SURGE
In addition to this intense personal process, Penn
JANE EISNER
Leads the Vote encouraged faculty members to
talk about the election in class. It sponsored GOTV
In the book I published last year, Taking Back
activities campus, handed out hundreds of wrist
the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in our
bands, manned booths to register students, and
Democracy, I outlined the reasons for the low
helped build excitement about the election. This
voting rates of young Americans and suggested
was a bipartisan effort, supported by both Penn
ways that this meltdown in political and civic
Democrats and Republicans.
participation could be reversed. Since then, we’ve
witnessed the gratifying surge of turnout in the
And the result? By the most conservative
2004 presidential election and a new sense of
estimates, turnout of Penn students increased
excitement among many young people. Now it’s
from 2000 to 2004 by 230 percent. Penn Leads
time to pay attention to the institutional changes
the Vote cannot claim all the credit for that surge
that must occur if this reversal is to be sustained.
in participation, but it does deserve a lot of it. The
Here are some ideas and observations that I hope
energetic and innovative way the students worked
will be helpful as this discussion gets underway:
through existing campus organizations could serve
as an easily replicated model for other colleges and
PENN LEADS THE VOTE.
universities. This kind of mobilization need not be
confined to a presidential election year, and should
At the University of Pennsylvania, I was fortunate
be used to keep interest and momentum alive
to be involved in a marvelously successful, student-
during other election cycles.
run get-out-the-vote campaign that could serve
as a model for campuses across the country. The
concept of “Penn Leads the Vote” drew upon the AARP FOR THE YOUNG.
central message of the work of Donald Green and
Alan Gerber – make it personal. We decided to As I spoke to young people across the country
work through the leaders of student organizations about my book, time and again I heard from an
on campus, on the theory that students will be energetic soul who wanted to figure out a way
more receptive to a message if it comes from other to create an issues-oriented lobbying group for
students with whom they have chosen to affiliate. the young. Other nations have student unions or
different kinds of broad-based groups to represent
Here’s how it worked. During the summer of the concerns of younger citizens. I wonder whether
2004, two student interns from the Fox Leadership we should try to help grow something like that in
Program identified and met with leaders from the U.S.
campus governance, religious, athletic, fraternal
and ethnic organizations. The leaders of those It could never have the power of the elderly lobby;
organizations who chose to participate were young people don’t have the money and, now
given an afternoon of training during freshman anyhow, the political clout. But young people do
orientation from a professional organizer whom we have an enormous and so far untested resource
brought to campus for this purpose. The leaders in communication and organization: The Internet.
were then made responsible for ensuring that the Imagine if there were some way of linking high
members of their organizations were registered school and college students on, say, the issue of
to vote, encouraged to become informed, and the rising cost of higher education – which, as far
then, on Election Day, actually went to the polls. as I can tell, is a huge concern largely ignored by
Other members of the Fox Leadership Steering the political process. Or a think tank that would
Committee followed up with the student leaders research and publicize nonpartisan “white papers”

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

on issues like how the change in Social Security image with the reality. Truth is, this is a notably
would affect the young. involved, civic-minded, communitarian generation.
They need help in making sure more Americans see
One of the debilitating consequences of low voter that.
turnout among the young is the way their issues
have been largely absent from public debate,
facilitating the vicious cycle that leads to the
disconnect between candidate and potential voter.
This would be one way to reconnect.

REDUCING THE BARRIERS TO VOTING.

Many of the proposals now before Congress to

encourage participation and ensure free and fair
elections disproportionately affect young people.
There should be a nationwide movement to do
away with the vestiges of election rules that make
it harder for young people, especially, to get to the
polls. This movement should encourage same-day
registration, longer and uniform polling hours, an
end to the rules in some states that prevent first-
time voters from voting absentee, easier absentee
balloting procedures, etc.

High schools should be encouraged to make sure

that every eligible voter is registered before he or
she graduates. Colleges should make registration a
prerequisite of finishing freshmen orientation.

This could be a separate effort, or woven into

the mission of the nationwide youth movement
mentioned above.

EDUCATING THE MEDIA.

I’m sorry to say that some members of my own

profession did a poor job of reporting on the youth
vote last fall, particularly in the first few days after
the election. While some of that was driven by
the outcome of the election, it was also clear that
the GOTV leaders were not able to get their point
across quickly enough to stem some of the initial
damage.

And while the image of young people as caring

about civic and political life did improve this last
year, there is still a long way to go in matching that

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN YOUTH FROM LOW communities.

INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS: THE INFLUENCE OF
If social influence operates as suggested, then
YOUTH BULGES, INSTITUTIONS, AND POVERTY child-saturated neighborhoods are better than
DANIEL HART adult-saturated ones for the acquisition by
adolescents of any form of civic activity more
Youth from low income neighborhoods, in common in adolescents than in adults. Voluntary
comparison to those from affluent neighborhoods, community service is one such activity, as it is
acquire less civic knowledge, volunteer less more common in American adolescents than
frequently, are less tolerant, and, upon reaching among adults. Child-saturated communities
early adulthood, are less likely to vote. What are consequently more likely to offer models
mechanisms give rise to these trends? Should we of involvement in volunteer activities than are
be optimistic about improvement in the future? adult-saturated ones. Our research (Hart, Atkins,
Markey, & Youniss, 2004, Hart, Atkins, & Youniss,
Communities affect civic knowledge and civic 2005) indicates that adolescents are more likely
participation through social influence. Knowledge, to volunteer in communities in which many others
attitudes, and behaviors are shaped in daily volunteer (child-saturated communities), than
interactions with others (Latané, Liu, Nowak, in communities in which volunteering is less
Boneventu, & Zheng, 1995). In our research, common (adult-saturated communities), except in
we have examined the effects of community profoundly poor communities. Our research finds
demographics on social influence. Poor an interaction between neighborhood poverty and
communities by definition have many families child-saturation, with the result that volunteering
below the poverty line; little appreciated is is very depressed in poor, child-saturated
that such communities tend also to have large communities. This interaction suggests to us
populations of children and small populations that poor communities may lack the institutions
of adults. An adolescent living in a community necessary to involve youth in constructive, civic
in which a large fraction of the population is activities.
composed of children and adolescents, a child-
saturated community, will interact more often with Finally, child-saturation is probably related to
peers, and consequently will be more influenced involvement in delinquent activities. Our research
by them, than will an adolescent in a community suggests that adolescents living in child-saturated
with relatively few children and many adults, or an neighborhoods are more likely than youth in
adult-saturated community. adult-saturated neighborhoods to be involved in
delinquent activities. Involvement in delinquent
Our research (Hart, Atkins, Markey, & Youniss, activity can lead to conviction, which in turn can
2004, Hart, Atkins, & Youniss, 2005) suggests that lead to disenfranchisement. As is well-known,
child-saturation influences adolescents’ acquisition conviction and disenfranchisement are more likely
of civic knowledge and civic participation. Because to affect minority, rather than white, men. Indeed,
adults have more experience in their societies than the Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics projects
youth, they should have more civic knowledge that if 2001 incarceration rates occur into the
than do children and adolescents. In comparison future, 1 in 3 Black men will spend time in Federal
to other communities, child-saturated communities or State penitentiaries, compared to 1 in 17 white
have fewer inhabitants (i.e., adults) with high levels men. One estimate is that at least 60% of Black,
of civics-expertise that can be transmitted through male, high school dropouts will be incarcerated
informal contact to children and adolescents. (Pettit & Western, 2004), leading some analysts to
Indeed, we have found that youth living in child- suggest that America has introduced a new stage
saturated communities know less about the into the life cycle of Black youth: going to jail.
political system than youth living in adult-saturated

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Currently, 13% of Black men are disenfranchised;

that percentage is likely to grow in the future. Pettit, B., & Western, B. (2004). Mass
imprisonment and the life course: Race and
Community child-saturation should only influence class inequality in U.S. Incarceration. American
qualities of civic development for which there Sociological Review, 69, 151-169
are substantial mean level differences between
youth and adult populations. Such differences
exist for knowledge and volunteering, but not for
other civic qualities such as tolerance for others’
views. However, tolerance is clearly influenced by
neighborhood factors and economic distress. We
have found that youth living in poor neighborhoods
to be lower in tolerance than adolescents in other
communities.

There are reasons to be hopeful concerning the

future. Analyses of 2000 Census suggests that
concentrated poverty is declining from its peak
in 1990, though there is still far to go. The
population is aging, which should predict improved
civic knowledge. However, there are still millions
of youth living in contexts which do not support
civic engagement. Moreover, trends in sentencing
have profoundly negative implications for the civic
engagement of minority men from low income
backgrounds.

These trends, and others related to the

civic engagement of youth from low income
neighborhoods, demand our serious consideration.

___________
REFERENCES
Hart, D., Atkins, R., Markey, P., & Youniss, J.
(2004). Youth bulges in communities: The effects
of age structure on adolescent civic knowledge and
civic participation. Psychological Science, 15, 591-
597.

Hart, D., Atkins, R., & Youniss, J. (2005).

Knowledge, youth bulges, and rebellion.
Psychological Science, 16, 661-662.

Latané, B., Liu, J. H., Nowak, A., Benevento, M.,

& Zheng, L. (1995). Distance matters: Physical
space and social impact. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 21, 795-805.

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RESHAPING A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY FOR

As a developmental psychologist, I admit that these
POLITICAL-CIVIC DEVELOPMENT
and related findings that began to emerge during
JAMES YOUNISS
the past decade challenge our traditional theoretical
approaches of political and civic development.
Recent studies on community service and youth
Most current theories are variants of a cognitive
development programs have produced results
model which focuses on strategic thinking that
which urge us to alter our theoretical orientation to
emanates from an underlying development of
political and civic development. A case in point is
cognitive competence. This competence is rather
seen in observations from a youth empowerment,
universal in scope as thinking is seen to apply
out-of-school, program in Chicago with immigrant
to any content, be it scientific experiments,
and minority youth in a low wealth neighborhood.
interpersonal relationships, or analysis of political
In four months of observation, the researchers
situations. Because this competence is universal, it
saw the following behaviors evolve. The youth
is somewhat disembodied, private, individual, and
identified inequitable administration of the school
lacking in interest in the political sense. Although
discipline code as a problem that interfered with
such a theory could be applied to the above
their education. They validated their perception
example, the application would be loose and after-
by mounting a survey which they administered to
the-fact, as it would hardly predict the observed
several hundred students. Once verified, they took
behaviors, especially in these kind of youth from an
their complaint to the superintendent’s office and
“inner-city, low wealth” setting.
discovered how to get their voice heard. This effort,
which included staging a rally and communicating
I (and Dan Hart) suggest that an adequate theory
directly with the superintendent, was successful as
of political and civic development would need to
the code was altered and practices were changed.
have the following features. A. Youth would be
In addition, the students organized an inter-school
seen as having interests besides simply personal
demonstration which was aimed at stopping the
satisfaction or feeling comfortable cognitively
introduction of a new system-wide high stakes test.
or otherwise. B. This interest would be seen as
The study ended while this campaign was still in
shared with others, other students, members of
progress.
one’s ethnic group, or what have you. C. These
interests would be seen as being in competition
Studies of this sort tell us much about political
with other persons who have different interests;
development in youth. 1. Youth who are ordinarily
e.g., other student groups, the superintendent’s
labeled “at risk,” can be mobilized and educated
office, et al. D. To advance one’s interests in this
in political strategic thinking. 2. These youth
context requires public behavior that is political
who are ordinarily viewed as uninterested in
and, therefore, entails argument, persuasion,
their education, can discover and articulate their
and various tactics of confrontation, rethinking,
interest in being educated and impediments to
and compromise. Sitting back and reasoning
it. 3. These youth who ordinarily are considered
to the best solution is simply inadequate for the
focused on self-gratification can act collectively
political domain. E. Effective action would in most
to work toward changes that benefit all students
instances demand collective action which involves
within the school system. 4. These youth who seem
the pooling of knowledge and skills by people who
uninvolved in politics displayed behavior which is
share an interest. F. All of this would operate in
patently political and dealt with a public matter of
people who share an identity in the political process
just practices. And 5. These youth who are often
itself, including those who hold competing interests
characterized as having negative identities, seem
and are perceived as the opposition.
during this study to have gained a political identity
that brought them into the system rather than
At present, I see no obvious candidate for a
alienating them further from it.

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developmental theory that has these features. behavior is well worth pursuing. The new model
Again, the dominant model from which most would have cognition in it, but the target person
theories stem is a broad cognitive position that would have defined interests that are shared with
emphasizes individual reasoning that leads to others, which differ from interests of other groups,
right solutions. Consider how this model has been when resolution of the differences requires public-
applied in the domain of morality. People are political behavior that follows rules of a system with
scaled from less to more moral maturity according which all sides identify. Such a theory would also
to the reasoning they use to resolve a dilemma. help to overcome the emphasis on the acquisition
As some commentators have noted, the person of disembodied knowledge by theories of political
in question is treated quite abstractly, akin to a socialization and practices in civic education which
miniature philosopher who has no stake in the seek to promote civic development without dealing
dilemma other than reaching the ideal solution. with politics.
This moral reasoner is disembodied and lacking in
interest other than being precise and consistent in
approaching the issue.

Examples from real life abound. Recall the debate

between the presidential candidates George H. W.
Bush and Michael Dukakis when the moderator
asked how they would react if a Willie Horton were
to have raped their wife or daughter. Dukakis gave
the answer that cognitive theory would endorse; he
would let the law take its course. Bush answered
as a person with an interest; he would seek the
severest of retributive punishments. A similar
example is seen in then-Senator Lowell Weicker’s
response to a reporter who asked whether his
sponsorship of a bill to assist handicapped youth
was prompted in part by the Senator’s having
a handicapped son. The Senator said he was
offended by the question, implying that one’s
personal interest was irrelevant to right legislation.
A third example comes from a real-life instance of
Kohlberg’s famous Heinz dilemma when in Nazi-
occupied Poland, a Jewish husband who was being
harbored by Christians faced the need for a drug to
save the life of his ill wife. Unlike the hypothetical
Heinz, this man went first to his friends, people
who shared his background through years of simple
reciprocation, to raise the money. He then went to
his protectors, promising that he would return the
“loan” once the occupation ended.
These examples are meant to highlight where this
cognitive model leads and, by implication, why it
is less than adequate as an approach to political
development. It would seem, then, work toward a
developmental theory which fits political and civic

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

COMMUNITY COLLEGES colleges. According to the American Association of

CONSTANCE A. FLANAGAN Community Colleges, minority students account for
30% of all CC enrollments nationally. ESL courses
I argue that community colleges could play an are typical in community colleges, reflecting
important role in incorporating groups of young the fact that many of their students are recent
adults who are marginalized from the political immigrants. Thus, community colleges could be
process. I make four points: an institutional setting for recruitment into political
life for these groups who now participate at lower
1. that CCs are the higher education institution levels.
that equalizes opportunity and that 4-year
institutions are increasingly becoming Community colleges are financed in large measure
rubber stamps of social advantage (64% of operational revenues) by funds from state
2. that because CCs respond to local training and local (often county) sources. In contrast,
needs and are funded largely by state and public 4-year colleges and universities derive
local dollars, it is incumbent on their faculty funding from their state budgets and, increasingly,
and staff to be engaged in local community from donations, and grants and contracts
affairs and that CC students themselves generated by their faculties. Compared to 4-year
have a vested interest in local community institutions, community colleges are less likely to
affairs have large endowments or alumni bases of support.
3. that experiments in place in many CCs may
have civic pay offs and should be studied The community college funding stream means that
and it is more incumbent on administration, staff, and
4. CC are challenged by financial pressures faculty of community colleges to be connected with
and also serve students who are overtaxed local civic institutions, politicians, and employers.
by competing role demands of job and In fact, the employment and training needs
family of communities drive decisions about training
programs at community colleges. Community
Community colleges are the largest and fasting colleges prepare more than 60% of new nurses
growing sector of higher education. The 1158 and other allied health professionals and 80%
public two-year colleges enroll 45% of all U.S. of first responders (EMTs, firefighters, and law
undergraduates. The American Association of enforcement).
Community Colleges reports that 10.4 million
students are enrolled in CC. Tenure and promotion in the community college
rewards public service, service on community
These colleges are the higher education opportunity boards (even running for electoral office) and
institution for marginalized groups. They are the community outreach in contrast to the tenure
most affordable (average annual tuition of $2076), system in universities where research (and the
most accessible (there is a community college more esoteric and removed from practice the
within a short distance of 90% of the population), better) has disproportionate weight over teaching
and most egalitarian, serving more than half of all or outreach/service. In this sense, the faculty and
minority and first-generation college students. It is staff of community colleges provide good civic role
roughly estimated that 80% of community college models for their students.
students are the first person in their families to
attend college. CC students reside in the communities where they
attend school and are likely to continue residing
Ethnically, CC students are a diverse population, far there after completing their education. Most CC
more diverse than the student population of 4-year students are working while they attend school and

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

many have children. After completing their studies, particular) with only a high-school diploma. The
they are more likely than their peers at 4-year US Departments of Education and Labor are looking
residential colleges to remain in the area. Local at community colleges to redress the declining
and state politics have a direct and long term effect competitive edge of the American workforce in
on their lives and those of their families. Thus, the global marketplace. (Whereas the educational
in principle, local and state politics should be of attainment of the Baby Boom generation was
greater interest to them than it is to students at 4- unsurpassed by any other nation, 25-34 year
year residential institutions. olds today have less education than their peers in
Japan, Korea, Ireland, or Canada.).
Student retention and degree completion are
major challenges for CCs. There are a number of Besides human capital, community colleges also
experiments going on to address retention and it’s might be settings where social capital accrues
conceivable that these also could serve as building and where young adults who are disconnected
blocks for overtures in civic engagement. One from society get recruited into civic life. In 2002,
experiment is learning communities which structure according to the 2004 Kids Count Report, 3.8
classes such that groups of students, counselors million young adults aged 18-24 were disconnected
from student services, and teachers work in teams. from society—they held no degree beyond high
Thus, students have a chance to form bonds with school, they had no job, and they were not enrolled
teachers and fellow students, develop networks of in school. This group had grown by 19% over the
social support, and may develop greater confidence three prior years. CCs have the potential to be a
in themselves, and trust in others. They may be setting where young adults who otherwise have no
more likely to identify with the institution and its future get connected to economic opportunities.
mission and may get recruited into activities and They also are a setting where large sectors of the
groups within the institution and in the community adult population who are now left out of political
where it is located. Other experiments such as life could be recruited.
the Bridge partnership (a project of the League
for Innovation in the CC with participation of the The mission of community colleges also provides
National Association of Developmental Education) a stark contrast to the elitist trends and policies
or dual enrollment/ ‘middle college’ (with large of 4-year public and private colleges and
investments from the Gates Foundation) try to universities. According to Clara Lovett, president
make a more seamless connection between high- of the American Association for Higher Education,
school and college for students who otherwise in a quest to improve their rankings, more and
would not continue on to college. Such programs more colleges are spending their resources to
try to demystify college, help students learn the recruit students with high SAT scores and other
ropes, and come to see college as a place where conventional indicators of ability or merit. This
they belong. resource allocation is at the expense of funding
students with greater financial needs. (In 2003
There are clear human capital incentives for 70% of freshmen entering a 4-year college came
continuing one’s education beyond high school. from families earning more than $50,000 (when
Some training or education beyond high-school is the median family income was $43,000). Thus,
now considered essential for obtaining jobs that rather than higher education serving to equalize
can support families. According to the Current opportunity (and political participation), it is
Population Survey, annual earnings of people with increasingly reinforcing social advantage.
a high-school diploma are $30,000 whereas those
with an Associate’s degree are $35,600. Trends in State budget constraints are pinching the capacities
wages since the early 1970s points to precipitous of CCs. In 2003, more than 200,000 students who
declines especially for men (and Black men in applied to CCs in California and Florida were turned

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

away because there were not enough funds to

schedule enough class sections. Plans for changing
eligibility for Pell Grants will affect students’ abilities
to pay for school.

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CIRCLE Working Paper 45: February 2006 Youth Civic Engagement: An Institutional Turn

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) promotes research
on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. Although CIRCLE
conducts and funds research, not practice, the projects that we support have practical implications
for those who work to increase young people’s engagement in politics and civic life. CIRCLE is also a
clearinghouse for relevant information and scholarship. CIRCLE was founded in 2001 with a generous
grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts and is now also funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York. It is
based in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.

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