Weinberg James
Lecturer in Political Behaviour, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield, Elmfield Building, Northumberland Road, Sheffield, S10 2TU UK.
Br Politics. 2022;17(2):185-209. doi: 10.1057/s41293-021-00186-4. Epub 2021 Jul 3.
Entrenched inequalities in political participation have made the questions of who participates and when, why, or how some of the most frequently asked and researched in political science. Building on existing comparative research, this article focuses on civic education in English secondary schools and, in particular, the ability of related interventions to close participation gaps normally seen by sex, ethnicity and socio-economic status. Analysing original survey data collected from more than 350 students in 17 maintained secondary schools located in six regions of England, this article evaluates the impact of four types of civic education (curricula lessons; open classroom climate; participatory activities; and political contact) on three participatory outcomes (expressive political behaviours; voting intentions; and anticipated high-intensity participation). Descriptive and inferential analyses suggest (a) cumulative quantities of civic education are positively associated with youth political participation; (b) open classroom climate may close known inequalities in young people's expressive and electoral participation whilst political contact with politicians and political institutions may widen those inequalities; and (c) civic education may currently accelerate inequalities in young people's political ambition. These findings raise important and immediate challenges for policy-makers who are concerned with improving young people's civic engagement in England and elsewhere.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41293-021-00186-4.
政治参与中根深蒂固的不平等使得谁参与、何时参与、为何参与或如何参与成为政治学中一些最常被问及和研究的问题。基于现有的比较研究，本文聚焦于英国中学的公民教育，尤其是相关干预措施缩小通常因性别、种族和社会经济地位而出现的参与差距的能力。通过分析从英格兰六个地区17所公立中学的350多名学生收集的原始调查数据，本文评估了四种类型的公民教育（课程教学；开放的课堂氛围；参与性活动；以及政治接触）对三种参与结果（表达性政治行为；投票意向；以及预期的高强度参与）的影响。描述性和推断性分析表明：（a）公民教育的累积量与青年政治参与呈正相关；（b）开放的课堂氛围可能会缩小年轻人在表达性和选举参与方面已知的不平等，而与政治家和政治机构的政治接触可能会扩大这些不平等；（c）公民教育目前可能会加剧年轻人政治抱负方面的不平等。这些发现给关注改善英国及其他地区年轻人公民参与的政策制定者带来了重要且紧迫的挑战。
在线版本包含可在10.1057/s41293-021-00186-4获取的补充材料。
