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In this working paper, the authors review the literature on college students' political attitudes and behaviors. It is hoped that this review will help to refine research questions and ultimately lead to a larger follow-up research study on college student political engagement. The literature review was based on the following three questions: (1) How do college students understand, define, and view politics, their political engagement, and the work of democracy? (2) Are college students politically engaged? How do college students practice politics? (3) How can institutions of higher education help foster greater political participation among college students? Several emerging and often overlapping trends came out of the review. The narrative of the authors' review might be described in the following way: There have been several general studies on college students as a demographic group with data on some aspects of their political knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, and practices. Much of the research indicates that college students today are cynical about politics and apathetic when it comes to political participation. However, after years of decline, there has been a recent increase in voting, trust in government, and other forms of political participation among college students in the past few years. There has also been a "scissor effect": years of decline in political participation have coincided with a surge in volunteering and involvement in community. There are various interpretations for the rise in community service and its implications for democracy, with many contending that there is no connection between community service and political participation; community service, it seems, may simply be an "alternative to politics." At the same time, there is a strand of literature arguing that there is a need for an alternative politics led by young people, and there seems to be an emergence of this "politics that is not called politics" on college campuses. Finally, there is widespread agreement in the literature about the great political potential of this generation of college students; and that colleges and universities need to do more to educate the next generation for democracy and provide more opportunities for political participation. This review of the literature also makes clear that while much research has been done on college student political engagement in the past decade, there are many interesting and important areas for future inquiry. Ultimately, an updated understanding of the current generation of college students' views on politics requires more than a literature review; thus, the authors believe that updated research with college students could be timely, contributing an important element to the efforts for democratic revitalization: the voices of the youngest generation. [This Working Paper was produced by CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement). For CIRCLE Working Paper 45, see ED491132.].
Utilizing data from a survey of attitudes and behavior of more than 2,500 residents of selected rural, urban, and university communities in the Federal Republic of Germany, Edward Muller attempts to formulate and to test a general multivariate theory about what motivates individuals to participate in aggressive political action. Since this kind of political behavior is infrequent in addition to being difficult to measure, it rarely has been subjected to rigorous scientific investigation at the micro-level. Professor Muller's study is an attempt to understand the causes of aggressive political participation using quantitative techniques. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Why do people adopt attitudes of political alienation--attitudes of estrangement from, or lack of identification with, the political system? Why do some politically alienated people react to their alienation by engaging in revolutionary behavior, while others similarly alienated--become reformers or ritualists, and still others simply drop out of political activity?In Political Alienation and Political Behavior, David C. Schwartz attempts to answer these questions, challenging accepted theories of social status and economic difficulties and developing a completely new, three variable psychological theories to explain alienation. Based on observations of threat from value conflict, perceived personal inefficacy, and perceived systemic inefficacy, the theory includes a process model for predicting political behavior.The book is organized into a definition and discussion of the concept of political alienation, including reviews and critiques of relevant scholarly and popular literature; a theoretical explanation of the causes and consequences of alienation; presentation of data; research reports testing the author's explanation of political alienation; tests of a process model explaining the consequences of alienation; and a summary of the major findings of the research, indicating some of the directions that future research might profitably take.Fascinating reading for social scientists, this well-written book will be important to teachers and students concerned with U.S. politics and more generally with the relationship of economic, social, and psychological forces manifested in political behavior.
This book examines how young people understand and live politics, using innovative research methods. It treats age, class, gender and ethnicity as political 'lived experiences'. It concludes that young people are alienated, rather than apathetic, and that their interests and concerns are rarely addressed within mainstream political institutions.
"This paper addresses possible sources of political apathy among citizens ages 18-26. Political apathy is widespread among this class of citizens, often leaving scholars with the impression that youth are culturally and socially unaware, with little knowledge of our government. By administering surveys to students, a cycle of alienation has been found, disproving the myth that they are culturally ignorant. This cycle of political alienation feeds between political parties' lack of attention to youth, and youth' failing to identify with major political parties. This paper includes a review of literature, the current study, findings, areas for further inquiry, and suggested solutions to remedy the core of our government to increase political participation among youth."--Author's abstract.
Using 1960-1988 cumulative survey data from the National Election Study, this research explores the major sources of the changes in political alienation and voting turnout. The study identifies four basic dimensions of political alienation; uses regression and algebraic decomposition methods to examine the increases in alienation and decline in voter turnout; probes the relationship between the two; and examines the sources for the decline in turnout.