Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-lfk5g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-13T13:20:20.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Teaching Citizenship: Race and the Behavioral Effects of American Civic Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2019

Matthew D. Nelsen Open the ORCID record for Matthew D. Nelsen [Opens in a new window]
Matthew D. Nelsen*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Matthew D. Nelsen, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, Scott Hall, 601 University Place, Evanston, IL 60208. E-mail: MatthewNelsen2021@u.northwestern.edu
Get access

Abstract

Political scientists have identified how resources, attitudes, and mobilization impact political participation across racial groups. However, the role of civic education has largely been overlooked in shaping these trends. I develop a theory that suggests exposure to civics curricula yields heterogeneous effects on the political participation of youth across racial groups. I test my hypotheses with data from the Black Youth Project's 2005 Youth Culture Survey, supplemented by two original data collections from 2017–2018. I find that civic education courses are associated with higher rates of external efficacy among white youth, but not for black and Latinx youth. Contrastingly, civic education courses appear to increase acts of public voice among black and Latinx respondents, but not for their white peers. Rather than viewing civic education courses as a panacea for low rates of youth political participation, scholars and policymakers should pay closer attention to the ways in which the content of civic education courses contributes to heterogeneous effects across racial and ethnic groups.

Keywords

civic educationrace, ethnicity and politicspolitical behavioryouth political engagement

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 157 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Allison, Scott T., and Goethals, George R.. 2011. Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Anguiano, Rebecca M. 2018. “Language Brokering among Latino Immigrant Families: Moderating Variables and Youth Outcomes. Journal of Youth Adolescence 47: 222–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkins, Robert, and Hart, Daniel. 2003. “Neighborhoods, Adults, and the Development of Civic Identity in Urban Youth.” Applied Developmental Science 7 (3): 156–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxter, Sandra, and Lansing, Marjorie. 1983. Women and Politics: The Visible Majority. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Bertrand, Marianne, and Mullainathan, Sendhil. 2001. “Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data.” The American Economic Review 91 (2): 67–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, Henry E., and McNulty, John E.. 2011. “Turning Out to Vote: The Costs of Finding and Getting to the Polling Place.” American Political Science Review 105 (1): 115–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braveman, P.A., Cubbin, C, Egerter, S., Posner, S., Chideya, S., Marchi, K.S., Meltzer, M., and Posner, S.. 2006. “Socioeconomic Status in Health Research: One Size Does Not Fit All.” Journal of the American Medical Association 204 (22): 2879–88.Google Scholar
Bruch, Sarah K., and Soss, Joe. 2018. “Schooling as A Formative Political Experience: Authority Relations and the Education of Citizens.” Perspectives on Politics 16 (1): 36–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullock, John G., and Ha, Shang E.. 2011. “Mediation Analysis is Harder Than it Looks.” In Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science, eds. Druckman, James N., Green, Donald P., Kuklinski, James H., and Lupia, Arthur. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 508–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burch, Traci R. 2013. Trading Democracy for Justice: Criminal Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burial, Raymond, Perez, William, De Ment, Terri L., Chavez, David V., and Moran, Virginia R.. 1998. “The Relationship of Language Brokering to Academic Performance, Biculturalism, and Self-Efficacy among Latino Adolescents.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 20 (3): 283–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callahan, Rebecca M., and Muller, Chandra. 2013. Coming of Political Age: American Schools and the Civic Development of Immigrant Youth. New York, NY: Sage Publishing.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2006. Why We Vote: How Schools and Communities Shape Our Civic Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2008. “Voice in the Classroom: How an Open Classroom Climate Fosters Political Engagement Among Adolescents.” Political Behavior 30 (4): 437–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2012. “Civic Education in Traditional, Public, Charter, and Private Schools.” In Making Civics Count: Citizenship Education for A New Generation, eds. Campbell, David E., Levinson, Meira and Hess, Frederick M.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 229–46.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E., and Niemi, Richard. 2016. “Testing Civics: State-Level Civic Education Requirements and Political Knowledge.” The American Political Science Review 110 (3): 495–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Angus, Converse, Phillip, Miller, Warren, and Stokes, Donald. 1961. The American Voter. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Cathy J. 1999. The Boundaries of Blackness: Aids and the Breakdown of Black Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Cathy J. 2005. “Black Youth Culture Survey.” Chicago, IL: Black Youth Project. Data set accessed November 10, 2014 at http://research.blackyouthproject.com.Google Scholar
Cohen, Cathy J. 2010. Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2008. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Davis, Angela. 1981. Women, Race, and Class. New York, NY: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael C. 1994. Behind the Mule Race and Class in African-American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael C. (2001). Black Visions: The Roots of Contemporary African American Political Ideologies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Dill, Jeffrey S. 2009. “Preparing for Public Life: School Sector and the Educational Context of Lasting Citizen Formation.” Social Forces 87 (3): 1265–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DuBois, W. E. B. 1995. The Philadelphia Negro. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Freire, Paolo. 1968. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Gainous, Jason, and Martens, Allison M.. 2012. “The Effectiveness of Civic Education: Are ‘Good’ Teachers Actually Good for ‘All’ Students?” American Politics Research 40 (2): 232–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamoran, Adam. 1987. “The Stratification of High School Learning Opportunities.” Sociology of Education 60: 135–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gay, Claudine, and Tate, Katherine. 1998. “Doubly Bound: The Impact of Gender and Race on the Politics of Black Women.” Political Psychology 19(1): 169–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Edward S. 1970. “Black Children and the Political System.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 34 (3): 333–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hope, Elan, and Jagers, Robert J.. 2014. “The Role of Sociopolitical Attitudes and Civic Education in the Civic Engagement of Black Youth.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 24 (3): 460–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Junn, Jane, and Masuoka, Natalie. 2013. The Politics of Belonging: Race, Public Opinion, and Immigration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kahne, Joseph, and Middaugh, Ellen. 2008. “High Quality Civic Education: What Is It and Who Gets It?” Social Education 72 (1): 34–39.Google Scholar
Kahne, Joseph, and Lee, Nam-Jin. 2013. “Different Pedagogy, Different Politics: High School Learning Opportunities and Youth Political Engagement.” Political Psychology 34 (3): 419–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klapp, Orrin E. 1954. “Heroes, Villains, and Fools as Agents of Social Control.” American Sociological Review 19 (1): 56–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langton, Kenneth P. and Jennings, M. Kent. 1968. “Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum in the United States.” The American Political Science Review 62 (3): 852–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, Peter, and Hugo Lopez, Mark. 2004. “Themes Emphasized in Social Studies and Civics Classes: New Evidence.” Boston, MA: Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.Google Scholar
Levinson, Meira. 2012. No Citizen Left Behind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis-Beck, Michael S. et al. 2008. The American Voter Revisited. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, Schley. 1970. “The Political Socialization of Ghetto Children: Efficacy and Cynicism.” The Journal of Politics 32 (2): 288–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martens, Allison M., and Gainous, Jason. 2013. “Civic Education and Democratic Capacity: How Do Teachers Teach and What Works?” Social Science Quarterly 94 (4): 956–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marx, David M., Jin Ko, Sei, and Friedman, Ray A.. 2009. “The ‘Obama Effect’: How A Salient Role Model Reduces Race-Based Performance Differences.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45 (4): 953–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdam, Doug. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McIntosh, Hugh, Hart, Daniel, and Youniss, James. 2007. “The Influence of Family Political Discussion on Youth Civic Development: Which Parent Qualities Matter?” PSOnline, 40 (3): 495–99.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard G. 2012. “What Students Know About Civics and Government.” In Making Civics Count: Citizenship Education for A New Generation, eds. Campbell, David E., Levinson, Meira, and Hess, Frederick M.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 15–36.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., and Junn, Jane. 1998. Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Peabody, Bruce, and Jenkins, Krista. 2017. Where Have All the Heroes Gone? The Changing Nature of American Valor. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pew Research. 2016. “The Nation's Latino Population Is Defined by Its Youth.” Last modified April 20, 2016. Accessed April 6, 2018. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/04/20/the-nations-latino-population-is-defined-by-its-youth/.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Rogowski, Jon C., and Cohen, Cathy. 2015. Black Millennials in America: Documenting the Experiences, Voices and Political Future of Young Black Americans. Chicago, IL: The Black Youth Project.Google Scholar
Sanchez, Tony R. 1998. “Using Stories About Heroes to Teach Values.” ERIC Digest. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED424190.pdf (Accessed November 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Sobel, Richard, and Smith, Robert Ellis. 2009. “Voter-ID Laws Discourage Participation, Particularly among Minorities, and Trigger a Constitutional Remedy in Lost Representation.” Political Science and Politics 42 (1): 107–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torney-Purta, Judith. 2002. “The School's Role in Developing Civic Engagement: A Study of Adolescents in Twenty-Eight Countries.” Applied Developmental Science 6 (4): 203–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verba, Sidney, and Nie, Norman H.. 1972. Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Lehman Schlozman, Kay, and Brady, Henry. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisskirch, Robert S. 2005. “The Relationship of Language Brokering to Ethnic Identity for Latino Early Adolescents.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science 27 (3): 286–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, Emily A. 2017. “Descriptive Representation and Political Efficacy: Evidence From Obama and Clinton.” Journal of Politics 79 (1): 351–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J. Kelton, and Maloyed, Christine L.. 2013. “Much Ado About Texas: Civics in the Social Studies Curriculum.” The History Teacher 47 (1): 25–40.Google Scholar
Wrone, David R. 1979. “Lincoln: Democracy's Touchstone.” Journal of Abraham Lincoln Association 1 (1): 71–83.Google Scholar
Zaller, John. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zukin, Cliff, Keeter, Scott, Adolina, Molly, and Jenkins, Krista. 2006. A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Nelsen supplementary material

Nelsen supplementary material

Download Nelsen supplementary material(File)
File 267.8 KB