Challenging the Civic Empowerment Gap: Stories of Youth Community Work

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Global and National Civics in Social Studies

Abstract

This study investigates the ways civic engagement programs at a youth center supports young people learning to interact politically. This study strays from typical questions about how we are we preparing young people for citizenship in the future in that it takes up the life-span perspective on learning for democratic citizenship. For this study, this included discussions where the exchange of ideas occurs through dialogue at the heart of political interaction whether in the context of a presidential election or discussion with a family member or neighbor. This study was designed to investigate the ways young people engaged in political interaction and how that engagement as civic or political in communities of practice.

Authors

• Andrew L. Hostetler, Vanderbilt University

• Rebecca Peterson, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College