This study focuses on how views on democracy develop during adolescence. A total of 40 Dutch adolescents were interviewed in their second and fourth year of secondary education. The study shows that the interviewed adolescents do become more familiar with politics but do not develop more nuanced views towards democracy. As the adolescents age, a one-dimensional perspective on democracy becomes more apparent. In the interviewees’ perspective, democracy increasingly equals majority rule. Other aspects, such as minority interests and finding consensus, are increasingly neglected. This study, therefore, suggests that adolescents do not ‘naturally’ develop more complex views on democracy when they age.
AbendschönS (ed.) (2013) Growing into Politics: Contexts and Timing of Political Socialisation. Colchester: ECPR Press.
2.
AdelsonJ (1971) The political imagination of the young adolescent. Daedalus100(4): 1013–1015.
3.
AdelsonJBeallL (1970) Adolescent perspectives on law and government. Law & Society Review4(4): 495–504.
4.
AdelsonJO’NeillR (1966) The growth of political ideas in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology4(3): 295–306.
5.
AmnåE (2012) How is civic engagement developed over time?Journal of Adolescence35(3): 611–627.
6.
ChanTWKooA (2011) Parenting style and youth outcomes in the UK. European Sociological Review27(3): 385–399.
7.
DahlRA (1956) A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
8.
DaltonR (2011) Engaging Youth in Politics. New York: IDebate Press.
9.
DaltonR (2015) The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation is Reshaping American Politics, 2nd edn.Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.
10.
EcksteinKNoackPGniewoszB (2012) Attitudes toward political engagement and willingness to participate in politics. Journal of Adolescence35(3): 485–495.
11.
FeldmanSZallerJ (1992) The political culture of ambivalence. American Journal of Political Science36(1): 268–307.
12.
FlanaganC (2013) Teenage Citizens. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
13.
FlanaganCAGallayLSGillSGallayENtiN (2005) What does democracy mean? Correlates of adolescents’ views. Journal of Adolescent Research20(2): 193–218.
14.
GalstonWA (2001) Political knowledge, political engagement, and civic education. Annual Review of Political Science4(1): 217–234.
15.
GallatinJAdelsonJ (1971) Legal guarantees of individual freedom: A cross-national study of the development of political thought. Journal of Social Issues27(2): 93–108.
GimpelJGCeleste LayJSchuknechtJE (2003) Cultivation Democracy: Civic Environments and Political Socialization in America. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
18.
GreensteinFI (1965) Children and Politics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
19.
HeldD (2006) Models of Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press.
20.
HelwigCC (1998) Children’s conceptions of fair government and freedom of speech. Child Development69(2): 518–531.
21.
HelwigCCKimS (1999) Children’s evaluations of decision-making procedures in peer, family, and school contexts. Child Development70(2): 502–512.
22.
HelwigCCTurielE (2002) Rights, autonomy, and democracy: Children’s perspectives. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry25(3): 253–270.
23.
HelwigCCArnoldMLTanDBoydD (2003) Chinese adolescents’ reasoning about democratic and authority-based decision making in peer, family, and school contexts. Child Development74(3): 783–800.
24.
HendriksF (2010) Vital Democracy: A Theory of Democracy in Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25.
HendriksFMichelsAMB (2011) Democracy transformed? Reforms in Britain and the Netherlands (1990–2010). International Journal of Public Administration34(5): 307–317.
26.
HessRDTorneyJ (1967) The Development of Political Attitudes in Children. Chicago, IL: Aldine Press.
27.
HoogheMDassonnevilleR (2011) The effects of civic education on political knowledge. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability23(4): 321–339.
28.
HoogheMWilkenfeldB (2008) The stability of political attitudes and behaviors across adolescence and early adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence37(2): 155–167.
29.
HoogheMDassonnevilleRMarienS (2014) The impact of education on the development of political trust: Results from a five-year panel study among late adolescents and young adults in Belgium. Political Studies63(1): 123–141.
30.
HusfeldtVNikolovaR (2003) Students’ concepts of democracy. European Educational Research Journal2(3): 396–409.
31.
Inspectorate of Education (2017) Burgerschap op school. Een beschrijving van burgerschapsonderwijs en de maatschappelijke stage [Citizenship at school. A description of citizenship education and service learning]. Utrecht: Onderwijsinspectie.
32.
JenningsMKStokerLBowersJ (2009) Politics across generations: Family transmission reexamined. Journal of Politics71(3): 782–799.
33.
KeaneJ (2009) The Life and Death of Democracy. London: Pocket Books.
Khoury-KassabriMHaj-YahiaMMBen-AriehA (2006) Adolescents approach toward children rights. Children and Youth Services Review28(9): 1060–1073.
36.
KinoshitaY (2006) Children’s judgment of the legitimacy of group decision-making about individual concerns. International Journal of Behavioral Development30(2): 117–126.
37.
LandisRLKochGG (1977) The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics33(1): 159–174.
38.
MacedoSAlex-AssensohYBerryJMet al. (2005) Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation and What We Can Do about It. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
39.
MaletzDJ (2002) Tocqueville’s tyranny of the majority reconsidered. Journal of Politics64(3): 741–763.
40.
MannLTanCMacLeod-MorganCDixonA (1984) Developmental changes in application of the majority rule in group decisions. British Journal of Developmental Psychology2(3): 275–281.
41.
ManningNEdwardsK (2014) Why has civic education failed to increase young people’s political participation?Sociological Research Online19(1): 5.
42.
MilesMBHubermanAM (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing.
43.
MoessingerP (1981) The development of the concept of majority decision. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science13(4): 359–362.
NiemiRG (2012) What students know about civics and government. In: CampbellDELevinsonMHessFM (eds) Making Civics Count. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp.15–36.
46.
NieuwelinkH (2008) Democratie in schoolboeken maatschappijleer [Democracy in textbooks]. Maatschappij & Politiek39(6): 19–23.
47.
NieuwelinkHDekkerPGeijselFten DamG (2016) ‘Democracy always comes first’: Adolescents’ views on decision-making in everyday life and political democracy. Journal of Youth Studies19(7): 990–1006.
48.
PennockJR (1979) Democratic Political Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
49.
PriorM (2010) You’ve either got it or you don’t?Journal of Politics72(3): 747–766.
50.
QuintelierE (2015) Engaging adolescents in politics. Youth & Society47(1): 51–69.
51.
QuintelierEVan DethJ (2014) Supporting democracy. Political Studies62(Suppl. 1): 153–171.
52.
RestJRNarvaezDThomaSJBebeauMJ (2000) A Neo-Kohlbergian approach to morality research. Journal of Moral Education29(4): 381–395.
53.
SapiroV (2004) Not your parents’ political socialization. Annual Review of Political Science7(1): 1–23.
54.
SchulzWJAinleyJFraillonDKerrDLositoB (2010) Initial Findings from the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study. Amsterdam: IEA.
55.
SearsDOLevyJS (2003) Childhood and adult political development. In: SearsDOHuddyLJervisR (eds) Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.60–109.
56.
SigelRSHoskinsMB (1981) The Political Involvement of Adolescents. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
57.
StokerLBassJ (2011) Political socialization. In: EdwardsGCJacobsLRShapiroRY (eds) The Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.453–471.
58.
TaggartP (2000) Populism. Buckingham: Open University Press.
59.
ThomassenJ (2007) Democratic values. In: DaltonRJKlingemannH (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.418–434.
60.
Torney-PurtaJ (2002) The school’s role in developing civic engagement: A study of adolescents in twenty-eight countries. Applied Developmental Science6(4): 203–212.
61.
Torney-PurtaJLehmannROswaldHSchulzW (2001) Citizenship and Education in Twenty-eight Countries: Civic Knowledge and Engagement at Age Fourteen. Amsterdam: IEA.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
