Rethinking youth political socialization: The relationship of youth civic participation to democratic schooling processes and the use of digital technologies

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Youth and civics education as a discourse on democratic thinking

Proposal

Research on youth political socialization examined the effects of the broader political contexts as measured by the democracy scores of countries in tandem with the effects of the broader democratic schooling processes such as openness in classroom discussions, civic learning opportunities and participation in community activities and youth participation in school (measured by active participation in an organized debate; voting for class representative; taking part in decision-making about how the school is run; taking part in discussions at a student assembly; becoming a candidate for class representative or school parliament) and youth participation outside of school (measured by participation in a youth organization affiliated with a political party or union; an environmental action group or organization; a human rights organization; a voluntary group doing something to help the community; an organization collecting money for a social cause) and found that democratic schooling processes were related to greater youth participation while the broader political context had a non-significant relationship to youth participation (Dagistan, 2022). Hence, the importance of democratic schooling practices in schools is once again highlighted. Still, youth political socialization research has failed to adequately contextualize youth participation by not considering the use of digital technology for civic engagement in tandem with the broader democratic schooling processes as well as the broader political context. Indeed, digital technology is being used by young people for civic engagement both inside and outside of school by, for instance, posting or sharing content on political and social issues. Young people have been using digital technology for civic engagement, which has provided new avenues for mobilizing, organizing, and interacting with larger audience (Brennan, 2018), as well as establishing new digital communities (Cho, 2020). Social media and digital communication have had a significant impact on civic involvement and information flow, both positively and negatively (Kahne et al., 2012; Kahne & Bowyer, 2019; Middaugh et al., 2016; Rainie et al., 2012). Interestingly, according to the latest results from the IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2022 International Report, civic engagement through digital media was not as widespread as expected among 14-year-old youth across the 24 participating countries when compared to in-person discussions with parents and friends about political and social issues and what is happening in other countries. In this study, I will examine youth political socialization including students’ use of digital technology for civic engagement and how it is associated to the different preparedness levels of teachers of civic-related subjects and the varying activities that they engage in the classroom both regarding digital technologies and democratic processes. I will employ a multi-level regression using three-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to estimate the association between youth civic participation in and out of school and the variables of interest across three levels (i.e., student, school, and country) using ICCS 2022 to better understand the ways nation-level and school-level democratic and digital processes relate to behavioral indicators of youth civic participation in and out of school across ICCS participant countries.

Author

• Seyma Dagistan Terzi, Education Reform Initiative