Youth Civic/Political Development

Adolescents are brimming with civic vitality. They contribute countless hours of service to their communities, actively participate in campaigns and rallies, [Page 1169]and serve as a voice for their peers on governance boards. These examples of civic participation have been given somewhat short shrift in the extant literature, however. Research on conventional political participation notes precipitous declines among younger generations of adults evident in things such as voting trends and declining newspaper readership (Galston, 2001). We contend that a broader view and understanding of youth civic and political development are needed to inform policy and program development in this area.

The terms civic and political are used conversationally in classrooms and media to imply two very distinct meanings. “Civic” is commonly used to imply a broader, all-encompassing definition of an individual's interaction with the polity, whereas “political” is used to refer to the business of government or electoral politics. This distinction is erroneous. The words political and civic have similar roots historically. The Latin root civis refers to a citizen, and the Greek equivalent is polites, a member of the polity (Walzer, 1989). Within the context of human development, the terms civic and political can be used interchangeably to refer to the process by which adolescents become engaged and acquire an understanding of their rights and responsibilities within the polity.

We have opted to discuss this growth by emphasizing civic/political development rather than political socialization. The latter implies that young people learn the fixed norms and values of their cultures and adopt those norms. In contrast, an emphasis on development recognizes that people and polities are continually changing (Flanagan & Gallay, 1995). Social change occurs as younger generations come of age and replace their elders as participating members of society. According to Mannheim (1928/1952), when youth come of age, they experience a “fresh contact” with society; that is, they experience and reevaluate its norms and mores from a new perspective. As young people make decisions about their own futures and the directions their lives will take, they also make decisions about the directions their societies and world will take. Their decisions are affected in part by their values. Research has shown that adolescents' values are correlated with their political views (Flanagan & Tucker, 1999) and that developmental environments have a long-term influence on values and behaviors that are fundamental in a democratic society, including tolerance (Miller & Sears, 1986) and engagement in civic affairs (Youniss, McLellan, & Yates, 1997).

The emerging field of youth political and civic development is vast, addressing topics as divergent as participation in community-based youth organizations, the democratic atmosphere of school climates, and the influence of values such as materialism and religion. Four core components of political and civic development are civic skills, civic literacy, civic attachment, and civic engagement.

Civic skills are the abilities needed to interact with fellow community members to accomplish a shared goal (Flanagan & Faison, 2001). They include social and communication skills, such as leadership, active listening, conflict resolution, public speaking, letter writing, and tolerance, applied to civic goals. An example of civic skills in action would be writing a letter of complaint to the Better Business Bureau about the poor business practices of a local grocery store. Schools and organizations provide adolescents with opportunities to practice these skills in safe, nonthreatening environments. Civic skills equip youth with the competencies and confidence needed to get involved in community affairs.

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