What’s the Matter With Civil Society? The Declining Effect of Civic Involvement on Civic Identity Among Czech Adolescents

Abstract

This study shows that the beneficial impact of adolescents’ involvement in civil society on their civic identity cannot be taken for granted. Employing the case of the Czech Republic, it is shown that this effect has vanished since early postcommunism to the present day. Survey data from two different generations of Czech middle adolescents were analyzed: the postcommunist generation (collected in 1995; n = 1,127) and the current generation (collected in 2010; n = 976). While participants’ associational involvement and volunteering predicted their stronger civic identity (i.e., psychological connection and sense of responsibility to fellow citizens) in 1995, no such effect was observed in 2010. Simultaneously, both associational involvement and volunteering were determined by the economic situation of adolescents’ family in 2010, but not in 1995. The most likely reason for the vanishing impact of civic involvement is the advancing professionalization of civil society.

Keywords

adolescents civic identity civic involvement civil associations postcommunism professionalization volunteering

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Allport

G. W.

(1958). The nature of prejudice. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor Books.

Al Ramiah

Hewstone

. (2013). Intergroup contact as a tool for reducing, resolving, and preventing intergroup conflict: Evidence, limitations, and potential. American Psychologist, 68, 527-542. doi:10.1037/a0032603

Atkins

Hart

(2003). Neighborhoods, adults, and the development of civic identity in urban youth. Applied Developmental Science, 7, 156-164. doi:10.1207/S1532480XADS0703_6

Beck

P. A.

Jennings

M. K.

(1982). Pathways to participation. American Political Science Review, 76, 94-108.

Brown

T. A.

(2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Celichowski

(2008). Civil societies in post-communist Europe: The challenges posed by social isolation. In Heinrich

V. F.

Fioramonti

(Eds.), CIVICUS Global Survey of the State of Civil Society. Vol. 2: Comparative perspectives (pp. 143-162). Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.

Císař

(2008). Politický aktivismus v České republice [Political activism in the Czech Republic]. Brno, Czech Republic: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury.

Císař

Vráblíková

(2010). The Europeanization of social movements in the Czech Republic: The EU and local women’s groups. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 43, 209-219. doi:10.1016/j.postcomstud.2010.03.003

Czech Statistical Office. (2012). Historical yearbook of national accounts 1990-2010. Retrieved from https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/historical-yearbook-of-national-accounts-1990-2010-oqwa2m61t2

10.

Czech Statistical Office. (2013). Labour market in the Czech Republic 1993-2012. Retrieved from https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/labour-market-in-the-czech-republic-1993-2012-eyfg3i0b2v

11.

Czech Statistical Office. (2014). Národnostní struktura obyvatel [Ethnic structure of the population]. Retrieved from https://www.czso.cz/documents/10180/20551765/170223-14.pdf

12.

Dekker

(2009). Civicness: From civil society to civic services? Voluntas, 20, 220-238. doi:10.1007/s11266-009-9089-9

13.

Erikson

E. H.

(1968). Identity, youth and crisis. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

14.

Eurobarometer. (2015). European youth (Flash Eurobarometer 408 Report). Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_408_en.pdf

15.

Flanagan

C. A.

(2004). Volunteerism, leadership, political socialization, and civic engagement. In Lerner

R. M.

Steinberg

(Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 721-745). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

16.

Flanagan

C. A.

Bowes

J. M.

Jonsson

Csapo

Sheblanova

(1998). Ties that bind. Journal of Social Issues, 54, 457-475. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01230.x

17.

Flanagan

C. A.

Cumsille

Gill

Gallay

L. S.

(2007). School and community climates and civic commitments: Patterns for ethnic minority and majority students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 421-431. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.99.2.421

18.

Flanagan

C. A.

Jonsson

Botcheva

Csapo

Bowes

Macek

. . . Sheblanova

(1999). Adolescents and the “social contract”: Developmental roots of citizenship in seven countries. In Yates

Youniss

(Eds.), Roots of civic identity: International perspectives on community service and activism in youth (pp. 135-155). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

19.

Flanagan

C. A.

Tucker

C. J.

(1999). Adolescents’ explanations for political issues: Concordance with their views of self and society. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1198-1209. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.35.5.1198

20.

Fredricks

J. A.

Eccles

J. S.

(2006). Is extracurricular participation associated with beneficial outcomes? Concurrent and longitudinal relations. Developmental Psychology, 42, 698-713. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.4.698

21.

Frič

(2015). Občanská společnost a definice NNO, vývoj, stav a trendy [Civil society and definitions of NGOs, development, conditions, and trends] (Dílčí studie ke Státní politice vůči NNO na léta 2015-2020 [Report for the State Policy Towards NGOs in Year 2015-2020]). Retrieved from http://www.vlada.cz/assets/ppov/rnno/dokumenty/studie_fric_pro_web.pdf

22.

Gaertner

S. L.

Rust

M. C.

Dovidio

J. F.

Bachman

B. A.

Anastasio

P. A.

(1994). The contact hypothesis: The role of a common ingroup identity on reducing intergroup bias. Small Group Research, 25, 224-249. doi:10.1177/1046496494252005

23.

Gordon

H. R.

Taft

J. K.

(2010). Rethinking youth political socialization: Teenage activists talk back. Youth & Society, 43, 1499-1527. doi:10.1177/0044118X10386087

24.

Grice

J. W.

(2001). Computing and evaluating factor scores. Psychological Methods, 6, 430-450. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.6.4.430

25.

Hansen

D. M.

Larson

R. W.

Dworkin

J. B.

(2003). What adolescents learn in organized youth activities: A survey of self-reported developmental experiences. Journal of Research Adolescence, 13, 25-55. doi:10.1111/1532-7795.1301006

26.

Hardy

S. A.

Pratt

M. W.

Pancer

S. M.

Olsen

J. A.

Lawford

H. L.

(2011). Community and religious involvement as contexts of identity change across late adolescence and emerging adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35, 125-135. doi:10.1177/0165025410375920

27.

Hart

Atkins

Ford

(1999). Family influences on the formation of moral identity in adolescence: Longitudinal analyses. Journal of Moral Education, 28, 375-386. doi:10.1080/030572499103142

28.

Heinrich

V. F.

(Ed.). (2007). CIVICUS Global Survey of the State of Civil Society. Vol. 1: Country profiles. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.

29.

Kahanec

Guzi

Martišková

Páleník

Pertold

Siebertová

(2012). Growing inequalities and their impacts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Country report for the Czech Republic and Slovakia). Retrieved from http://gini-research.org/system/uploads/511/original/Czech_Slovak.pdf?1377869960

30.

Kahne

Middaugh

Lee

N.-J.

Feezell

J. T.

(2011). Youth online activity and exposure to diverse perspectives. New Media & Society, 14, 492-512. doi:10.1177/1461444811420271

31.

Kirshner

(2009). “Power in numbers”: Youth organizing as a context for exploring civic identity. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 19, 414-440. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00601.x

32.

Krosnick

J. A.

Alwin

D. F.

(1989). Aging and susceptibility to attitude change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 416-425. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.3.416

33.

Lenzi

Vieno

Perkins

D. D.

Santinello

Elgar

F. J.

Morgan

Mazzardis

(2012). Family affluence, school and neighborhood contexts and adolescents’ civic engagement: A cross-national study. American Journal of Community Psychology, 50, 197-210. doi:10.1007/s10464-012-9489-7

34.

Marcia

J. E.

(1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558.

35.

McFarland

D. A.

Thomas

R. J.

(2006). Bowling young: How youth voluntary associations influence adult political participation. American Sociological Review, 71, 401-425. doi:10.1177/000312240607100303

36.

McNeal

R. B.

(1998). High school extracurricular activities: Closed structures and stratifying patterns of participation. The Journal of Educational Research, 91, 183-191. doi:10.1080/00220679809597539

37.

Mutz

D. C.

(2002). Cross-cutting social networks: Testing democratic theory in practice. American Political Science Review, 96, 111-126. doi:10.1017/s0003055402004264

38.

Pancer

S. M.

Pratt

M. W.

(1999). Social and family determinants of community service involvement in Canadian youth. In Yates

Youniss

(Eds.), Roots of civic identity: International perspectives on community service and activism in youth (pp. 32-55). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

39.

Pearce

N. J.

Larson

R. W.

(2006). How teens become engaged in youth development programs: The process of motivational change in a civic activism organization. Applied Developmental Science, 10, 121-131. doi:10.1207/s1532480xads1003_2

40.

Pettigrew

T. F.

Tropp

L. R.

(2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 751-783. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.751

41.

Pospíšilová

(2011). Dobrovolnictví v České republice před rokem 1989: Diskurzy, definice, aktualizace [Volunteering in the Czech Republic before 1989: Discourses, definitions, cross-references]. Sociologický časopis/Czech Sociological Review, 47, 887-910.

42.

Putnam

R. D.

(2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

43.

Quintelier

(2008). Who is politically active: The athlete, the scout member or the environmental activist? Young people, voluntary engagement and political participation. Acta Sociologica, 51, 355-370. doi:10.1177/0001699308097378

44.

Quintelier

van Deth

J. W.

(2014). Supporting democracy: Political participation and political attitudes. Exploring causality using panel data. Political Studies, 62, 153-171. doi:10.1111/1467-9248.12097

45.

Schulz

Ainley

Fraillon

Kerr

Losito

(2010). ICCS 2009 International report: Civic knowledge, attitudes, and engagement among lower-secondary school students in 38 countries. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

46.

Sears

D. O.

Levy

(2003). Childhood and adult political development. In Sears

D. O.

Huddy

Jervis

(Eds.), Oxford handbook of political psychology (pp. 60-109). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

47.

Shah

D. V.

(1998). Civic engagement, interpersonal trust, and television use: An individual-level assessment of social capital. Political Psychology, 19, 469-496. doi:10.1111/0162-895x.00114

48.

Sherif

Harvey

O. J.

White

B. J.

Hood

W. R.

Sherif

C. W.

(1961). Intergroup conflict and cooperation: The Robbers Cave experiment. Norman, OK: University Book Exchange.

49.

Skocpol

(2003). Diminished democracy: From membership to management in American civic life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

50.

Skocpol

(2004). Voice and inequality: The transformation of American civic democracy. Perspectives on Politics, 2, 3-20. doi:10.1017/S1537592704000593

51.

Smith

E. S.

(1999). The effects of investments in the social capital of youth on political and civic behavior in young adulthood: A longitudinal analysis. Political Psychology, 20, 553-580. doi:10.1111/0162-895X.00156

52.

Stolle

(1998). Bowling together, bowling alone: The development of generalized trust in voluntary associations. Political Psychology, 19, 497-525. doi:10.1111/0162-895X.00115

53.

Stolle

Harell

(2013). Social capital and ethno-racial diversity: Learning to trust in an immigrant society. Political Studies, 61, 42-66. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2012.00969.x

54.

Stolle

Rochon

T. R.

(1998). Are all associations alike? Member diversity, associational type, and the creation of social capital. American Behavioral Scientist, 42, 47-65. doi:10.1177/0002764298042001005

55.

Stolle

Soroka

Johnston

(2008). When does diversity erode trust? Neighborhood diversity, interpersonal trust and the mediating effect of social interactions. Political Studies, 56, 57-75. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00717.x

56.

Šťovíčková Jantulová

. (2005). Analýza procesu profesionalizace v občanském sektoru očima jeho aktérů [Process of professionalization of the civil sector from the point of view of its actors]. Sociální studia/Social Studies, 2, 131-146.

57.

Torney-Purta

Lehmann

Oswald

Schulz

(2001). Citizenship and education in twenty-eight countries: Civic knowledge and engagement at age fourteen. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

58.

van Deth

J. W.

Maloney

W. A

. (2012). Introduction: Democracy, professionalization and participation. In van Deth

J. W.

Maloney

W. A.

(Eds.), New participatory dimensions in civil society: Professionalization and individualized collective action (pp. 1-11). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

59.

Verba

Schlozman

K. L.

Brady

H. E.

(1995). Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, UK: Harvard University Press.

60.

Wellman

Haase

A. Q.

Witte

Hampton

(2001). Does the Internet increase, decrease, or supplement social capital? American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 436-455. doi:10.1177/00027640121957286

61.

Wilkenfeld

(2009). A multilevel analysis of context effects on adolescent civic engagement: The role of family, peers, school, and neighborhood (Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland). Retrieved from http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/9130

62.

Yates

Youniss

(1996). A developmental perspective on community service in adolescence. Social Development, 5, 85-111. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.1996.tb00073.x

63.

Youniss

McLellan

J. A.

Yates

(1997). What we know about engendering civic identity. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 620-631. doi:10.1177/0002764297040005008

64.

Zaff

J. F.

Moore

K. A.

Papillo

A. R.

Williams

(2003). Implications of extracurricular activity participation during adolescence on positive outcomes. Journal of Adolescent Research, 18, 599-630. doi:10.1177/0743558403254779