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Original Articles

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

Pages 623-642 | Published online: 08 May 2007

REFERENCES

  • Hunter , James Davidson . 1996 . The State of Disunion , 5 Charlottesville, VA : Post-Modernity Project; University of Virginia .
  • 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.
  • Zill , N. 2002 . Civics Lessens: Youth and the Future of Democracy . Public Perspective , January/February : 27 – 33 .
  • Putnam , R. 2000 . Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community , 139 New York : Simon & Schuster .
  • March 2002 . Americans Struggle with Religion's Role at Home and Abroad , March , Washington, D.C. : The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press . Question 2.
  • 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.
  • Nye , J. S. Jr. , Zelikow , P. D. and King , D. C. 1997 . Why People Don't Trust Government , 268 – 276 . Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press .
  • Jan. 9 2002 . Youth Civic Engagement after 9/11/01 , Jan. 9 , 18 – 19 . CIRCLE and the Pew Center for the People and the Press .
  • 11. Ladd and Bowman, Chapter 6.
  • 12. Rahn, Generations and American National Identity.
  • 13. Putnam, Bowling Alone, pp. 140–141.
  • Putnam , R. 2002 . Bowling Together . The American Prospect , 13 ( 3 )
  • Jan. 9 2002 . Youth Civic Engagement: Basic Facts and Trends , Jan. 9 , 3 The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), University of Maryland .
  • 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.
  • Schlozman , K. L. , Verba , S. and Brady , H. E. 1999 . “ Civic Participation and the Equality Problem ” . In Civic Engagement and American Democracy , Edited by: Skocpol , T. and Fiorina , M. P. 34 Washington, D.C. : Brookings/Russell Sage . also Putnam, Bowling Alone
  • 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.
  • Brady , H. E. , Schlozman , K. L. , Verba , S. and Elms , L. 2002 . “ Who Bowls? The (Un)changing Stratification of Participation. ” . In Understanding Public Opinion , 2nd , Edited by: Narrande , B. and Wilcox , C. Washington, D.C. : CQ Press . Figure 10–1.
  • 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.
  • Popkin , S. and Dimock , M. 1999 . “ Political Knowledge and Citizen Competence ” . In Citizen Competence and Democratic Institutions , Edited by: Elkin , S. and Soltan , K. University Park, PA : The Pennsylvania State University Press .
  • Conover , P. J. and Searing , D. 2000 . “ A Political Socialization Perspective ” . In Rediscovering the Democratic Purposes of Education , Edited by: McDonnell , L. M. , Timpane , P. M. and Benjamin , R. Lawrence, KS : University Press of Kansas .
  • Niemi , R. and Junn , J. 1998 . Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn , New Haven, CT : Yale University Press .
  • Langton , K. and Jennings , M. K. 1968 . Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum . American Political Science Review , 62 : 852 – 867 .

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