Citizenship Norms and Youth in Times of Rapid Social Change

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Across liberal democracies there is a strong concern about the political attitudes and behaviors of especially young age groups. Although at the recent midterm elections, electoral turnout among the youngest age group was clearly up, the general trend does remain that this age groups participates less frequently in the electoral process than other age groups. An important explanation for this structural trend is that the citizenship norms of younger age groups are changing rapidly. While for older generations, voting was often considered to be an act of civic duty, for younger generations self-expressive political norms have become more important. We also know from previous research (e.g., Blais, Franklin, Dalton, …) that these norms are formed at a relatively early age, due to various influences like the example of parents, civic education or what has been called ‘generation defining events’. These socialization experiences might have a lasting effect on the citizenship norms of young citizens, and hence also on their future political participation behavior.

The purpose of this panel is to bring together some of the most recent evidence in the research on political socialization and citizenship norms. Most of the papers are comparative in nature, but there is also evidence form the United States and Europe. We are especially pleased that prof. Judith Torney-Purta, who pioneered this line of research back in the 1960s, and who is very active in this field, will present a paper, providing an overview of the research of the past decades, thus providing a research agenda for future investigations in this field.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 37: Public Opinion

Individual Presentations

• Five Decades of Political Socialization Research: Sources of Populist Sentiment - Judith Torney-Purta, University of Maryland-College Park; Frank Reichert, The University of Hong Kong

• The Impact of the 2016 Presidential Election on the Engagement of Adolescents - David E. Campbell, University of Notre Dame; Christina Wolbrecht, University of Notre Dame

• Changing Citizenship Norms among Adolescents: 1999-2009-2016 - Jennifer Oser, Ben-Gurion University; Marc Hooghe, University Leuven

• Does Voting at 16 Lead to Political Socialization from Child to Parent? - Dieter Stiers, KU Leuven

Chair

• Marc Hooghe University Leuven

Discussant

• Jennifer Oser Ben-Gurion University