Civic Knowledge, Civic Education, and Civic Engagement: A Summary of Recent Research

Abstract

In recent decades, many indicators of civic involvement in the United States have declined. The decline is political engagement has been especially pronounced, although signs of renewed interest evident in the 2006 elections may represent a reversal of long-established trends. Trust in government and most major social institutions remains low, although young adults seem somewhat more favorably disposed than others to the public sector. While volunteering is up, charitable contributions have fallen as a percentage of GDP. Despite large increases in formal education, measures of political knowledge have remained flat for decades. Renewed attention to civic education may help moderate some of these adverse developments.

Keywords:

• civic education
• civic engagement
• civic knowledge
• political participation
• social capital

Notes

2. For the historical record, see Ladd, E. C.; Bowman, K. H. What's Wrong: A Survey of American Satisfaction and Complaint; The AEI Press: Washington, D.C., 1998, p. 15.

3. See especially Rahn, W. Generations and American National Identity: A Data Essay. Communication in the Future of Democracy Workshop, Annenberg Center, Washington D.C., May 8–9, 1998. Rahn, Wendy. Americans' Engagement with and Commitment to the Political System: A Generational Portrait. COSSA Congressional Briefing, Washington D.C., Jul. 16, 1999.

7. Americans Struggle with Religion's Role, Question 3.

8. For the best study of recent developments, see Kohut, A. Deconstructing Distrust: How Americans View Government; Pew Research Center for the People and the Press: Washington D.C., 1998.

11. Ladd and Bowman, Chapter 6.

12. Rahn, Generations and American National Identity.

13. Putnam, Bowling Alone, pp. 140–141.

16. Rahn, Americans' Engagement with and Commitment to the Political System.

17. Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 354. Wolfe, A. One Nation, after All; Viking: New York, 1998. Yankelovich, D. How Changes in the Economy Are Reshaping American Values. In Values and Public Policy; Aaron, H. J.; Mann, T. E.; Taylor, T., Eds.; Brookings Institution: Washington, D.C., 1994.

18. Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 36.

19. Youth Civic Engagement: Basic Facts and Trends; p. 5. Bennett, S. E. Why Young Americans Hate Politics, and What We Should Do about It. PS: Political Science & Politics 1997, March, 47–53.

20. Youth Civic Engagement Basic Facts and Trends, pp. 9–10.

21. Short-Term Impacts, Long-Term Opportunities: The Political and Civic Engagement of Young Adults in America; Lake Snell Perry & Associates/The Tarrance Group, Inc., analysis and report for the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), 2002, March.

22. For all this and much more, see especially Delli Carpini, M. X. D.; Keeter, S. What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters; Yale University Press: New Haven, CT, 1996.

23. Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 36.

24. For a discussion of these difficulties, see Youth Voter Turnout Has Declined, by Any Measure; Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), University of Maryland, 2002.

26. Youth Voter Turnout Has Declined, by Any Measure, p. 9.

27. Youth Voter Turnout Has Declined, by Any Measure, at 10.

28. Calculations by Mark Lopez, CIRCLE Research Director; copy on file with the author.

29. This survey is summarized in Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 45.

31. Who Bowls?, Figure 10–2.

32. Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 253.

33. Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 342.

34. Putnam, Bowling Alone, pp. 54, 60–61, 71, 81, 155–161.

35. Who Bowls?, Figures 10–3 and 10–4.

36. Who Bowls?, Figure 10–5.

37. Who Bowls? (end).

38. This trend is summarized in Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 124. Figure 31 on that page also shows that the mid-1960s peak represents a remarkable increase from the roughly 1.5 percent characteristic of the 1930s. This raises the question whether the Depression/World War II generation should be regarded as an aspirational norm or rather an unusual exception to typical social patterns.

39. Putnam, Bowling Alone, pp. 128–130; and Youth Civic Engagement, p. 4.

40. Short Term Impacts, Long Term Opportunities, pp. 10–13, 20.

41. Putnam, Bowling Alone, pp. 154–166. As Putnam rightly observes, the movement of religious conservatives constitutes a major exception to this generalization, a fact that helps explain important developments in American politics over the past quarter century.

42. In addition to the sources I specifically mention in this section and the next, I have drawn on the following sources: Carpini and Keeter, 1996; Leming, R. S. We the People… The Citizen and the Constitution. Eric Digest 1996, EDO-SO-96-4. Nie, N.; Junn, J.; Stehlik-Barry, K. Education and Democratic Citizenship in America; The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1996; Nie, N.; Hillygus, D. Education and Democratic Citizenship. In Making Good Citizens: Education and Civil Society; Ravitch, D.; Viteritti, J., Eds.; Yale University Press: New Haven, CT, 2001; Torney-Purta, J. The School's Role in Developing Civic Engagement: A Study of Adolescents in Twenty-Eight Countries. Applied Development Science 2002, 6(4), 203–212; Zaller, J. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1992.