Learning Protest: How national protest contexts Influence Adolescents’ views of Unconventional Political Participation
Abstract
Political protest has become a normal form of engagement in many countries (Meyer and Tarrow 1997) although the degree to which protest is considered a legitimate form of civic engagement varies both across countries and across individuals within countries. Using a sample of fourteen year olds from 20 countries surveyed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) as part of the 1999 Civic Education (CivEd) and 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education (ICCS) surveys, we seek to understand how national political context – specifically the amount and form of protest in recent years influence young citizens’ attitudes toward participating in protest behavior. We distinguish two different types of protest -- non-confrontational and confrontational -- and expect some factors to affect each of these differently. We also look at how a history of riots in a country influences youth’s expected future activity. The project expands our understanding of how different forms of civic engagement are learned and contributes to the literature on the cross-national factors that produce protest.
Abstract
Political protest has become a normal form of engagement in many countries (Meyer and Tarrow 1997) although the degree to which protest is considered a legitimate form of civic engagement varies both across countries and across individuals within countries. Using a sample of fourteen year olds from 20 countries surveyed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) as part of the 1999 Civic Education (CivEd) and 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education (ICCS) surveys, we seek to understand how national political context – specifically the amount and form of protest in recent years influence young citizens’ attitudes toward participating in protest behavior. We distinguish two different types of protest -- non-confrontational and confrontational -- and expect some factors to affect each of these differently. We also look at how a history of riots in a country influences youth’s expected future activity. The project expands our understanding of how different forms of civic engagement are learned and contributes to the literature on the cross-national factors that produce protest.
