Abstract
The annual Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey (2013) showed a 40 percent decrease in the number of incoming college freshmen who think that keeping up with politics is important. In 1966, 60 percent of this group thought that keeping up with politics was important (Galston 2004), while only 36.1 percent thought so in 2013 (Eagan et al. 2013). This trend coincides with research findings that indicate that the percentage of young adults who exercise suffrage has declined in this timeframe (Levine and Lopez 2002; Miller and Shanks 1996), and that young adults are less apt than their elders to engage in other forms of political activity such as contributing money to political parties or candidates, contacting their elected officials, or voting (Rosenstone and Hansen 1993; Zukin et al. 2006).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abel, Jaison R., Richard Dietz, and Yaqin Su. 2014. “Are Recent College Graduates Finding Good Jobs?” Current Issues in Economies and Finance 20: 1–8. Available at http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci20-l.pdf. Accessed on July 15, 2014.
Aristotle 350 BC. Politics, Books One through Eight.
Best, Samuel J. and Krueger, Brian S. 2005. “Analyzing the Representativeness of Internet Political Participation.” Political Behavior 27: 183–216.
Bloom, Joel. 2003. “The Blogosphere: How a Once-Humble Medium Came to Drive Elite Media Discourse and Influence Public Policy and Elections.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA.
California State University System. 2014. “American Institutions Requirement.” Available at https://secure.csumentor.edu/planning/transfer/inst_requirement.asp. Accessed on July 8, 2014.
Campbell, David E. 2008. “Voice in the Classroom: How an Open Classroom Climate Fosters Political Engagement among Adolescents.” Political Behavior 30: 437–454.
Campbell, Angus, Phillip Converse, Warren Miller, and Donald Stokes. 1960. The American Voter. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). 2014. “High School Civics Requirements and Assessments Vary Across the U.S.” Available at http://www.civicyouth.org/high-school-civics-requirements-and-assessments-vary-across-the-u-s/?cat_id=10. Accessed on July 3, 2014.
Curtiss, Anthony. 2014. “The Brief History of Social Media.” Available at http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html. Accessed on July 8, 2014.
Dahl, Robert A. 1991. Democracy and Its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Dahl, Robert A. 2006. A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Dugan, Andrew. 2013. “Democrats Enjoy 2–1 Advantage over GOP among Hispanics. Gallup Politics. Released February 19.” Available at http://www.gallup.com/poll/160706/democrats-enjoy-advantage-gop-among-hispanics.aspx. Accessed on July 11, 2014.
Eagan, Kevin, Jennifer B. Lozano, Sylvia Hurtado, and Matthew H. Case. 2013. The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2013. Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
Feldman, Lauren, Josh Pasek, Daniel Romer, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. 2007. “Identifying Best Practices in Civic Education: Lessons from the Student Voices Program.” American Journal of Education 114: 75–100.
Flanagan. Constance and Peter Levine 2010. “Civic Engagement and the Transition to Adulthood.” Future Child 20: 159–179.
Gainous, Jason and Allison M. Martens. 2012. “The Effectiveness of Civic Education: Are “Good” Teachers Actually Good for ‘All’ Students?” American Politics Research 40: 232–266.
Galston, William A. 2001. “Political Knowledge, Political Engagement and Civic Education.” Annual Review of Political Science 4: 217–234.
Galston, William A. 2004. “Civic Education and Political Participation.” PS: Political Science and Politics 37: 263–266.
Gibson, Cynthia and Peter Levine 2003. The Civic Mission of Schools. New York, NY: Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Gil de Zuniga, Homero, Eulalia Puig-I-Abril, and Hernando Rojas. 2009. “Weblogs, Traditional Sources Online and Political Participation: An Assessment of How the Internet Is Changing the Political Environment.” New Media & Society 11: 553–574.
Gimpel, James G., Frances E. Lee, and Joshua Kaminski. 2006. “The Political Geography of Campaign Contributions.” The Journal of Politics 68: 626–639.
Jefferson, Thomas. 1903. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Memorial Edition, Vol. 15. Washington DC: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association.
Kahne, Joseph E. and Joel Westheimer. 2006. “The Limits of Political Efficacy: Educating Citizens for a Democratic Society.” PS: Political Science and Politics 39: 289–296.
Kahne, Joseph E. and Susan E. Sporte. 2008. “Developing Citizens: The Impact of Civic Learning Opportunities on Students’ Commitment to Civic Participation.” American Education Research Journal 45: 738–766.
Kenski, Kate and Natalie Jomini Stroud. 2006. “Connections between Internet Use and Political Efficacy, Knowledge, and Participation.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 50: 173–192.
King, Gary, Michael Tomz, and Jason Wittenberg. 2000. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” American Journal of Political Science 44: 341–355.
Klofstad, Casey A. 2015. “Exposure to Political Discussion in College Is Associated with Higher Rates of Political Participation Over Time.” Political Behavior 32: 292–309.
Langton, Kenneth P. and M. Kent Jennings. 1968. “Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum in the United States.” The American Political Science Review 62: 852–867.
Levine, Peter and Mark Hugo Lopez. 2002. Touth Voter Turnout has Declined by Any Measure. Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Available at http://civicyouth.org/research/products/Measuring_Youth_Voter_Turnout.pdf Accessed on June 8, 2015.
Lewis, Mitzi. 2011. “An Analysis of the Relationship Between Political Blog Reading, Online Political Activity, and Voting During the 2008 Presidential Campaign.” The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 6: 11–28.
Lewis-Beck, Michael S. 1990. Economics and Elections: The Major Western Democracies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
McClurg, Scott D. 2003. “Social Networks and Political Participation: The Role of Social Interaction in Explaining Political Participation.” Political Research Quarterly. 56: 449–464.
Miller, Warren E. and J. Merrill Shanks. 1996. The New American Voter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Min, Seong-Jae 2007. “Online vs. Face-to-Face Deliberation: Effects on Civic Engagement.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12(4), article 11. Available at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/voll2/issue4/min.html. Accessed on June 8, 2015.
Moffett, Kenneth W. and Laurie L. Rice. 2014. “College Students and Online Political Expression during the 2008 and 2012 Elections.” Working Paper. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Niemi, Richard G. and Jane Junn. 1998. Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Norris, Pippa. 1998. “Virtual Democracy.” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 3: 1–4.
Oros, Andrew L. 2007. “Let’s Debate: Active Learning Encourages Student Participation and Learning.” Journal of Political Science Education 3: 293–311.
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 2012a. “Assessing the Representativeness of Public Opinion Surveys. Released May 15.” Available at http://www.people-press.org/2012/05/15/assessing-the-representativeness-of-public-opinion-surveys. Accessed on September 1, 2013.
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 2012b. “In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is Vulnerable.” Released September 27. Available at: http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/2012%20 News%20Consumption%20Report.pdf Accessed on July 15, 2014.
Rice, Laurie L., Kenneth W. Moffett, and Ramana Madupalli. 2013. “Campaign-Related Social Networking and the Political Participation of College Students.” Social Science Computer Review 31: 257–279.
Rosenstone, Steven and John Mark Hansen. 1993. Mobilization, Participation and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1762. The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right.
Shah, Dhavan V., Nojin Kwak, and R Lance Holbert. 2001. “‘Connecting’ and ‘Disconnecting’ with Civic Life: Patterns of Internet Use and the Production of Social Capital.” Political Communication 18:141–162.
Shah, Dhavan V., Jaeho Cho, William P. Eveland, and Nojin Kwak. 2005. “Information and Expression in a Digital Age: Modeling Internet Effects on Civic Participation.” Communication Research 32: 531–565.
The University of Texas. 2014. “Government Courses: Legislative Requirement.” Available at http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/ate/problems/government.html. Accessed on July 8, 2014.
Thies, Cameron G. and Robert E. Hogan. 2005. “The State of Undergraduate Research Methods Training in Political Science.” PS: Political Science and Politics 38: 755–763.
Thompson, Clive 2006. “The Early Years.” New York. February 20. Available at http://nymag.com/news/media/15971. Accessed on July 8, 2014.
Tolbert, Caroline J. and Ramona S. McNeal. 2003. “Unraveling the Effects of the Internet on Political Participation?” Political Research Quarterly 56: 175–185.
Towner, Terri L. 2013. “All Political Participation Is Socially Networked?: New Media and the 2012 Election.” Social Science Computer Review 31: 527–541.
Towner, Terri L. and David A. Dulio. 2011. “An Experiment of Campaign Effects during the YouTube Election.” New Media & Society 13: 626–644.
Verba, Sydney and Norman H. Nie. 1972. Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality. New York, NY: Harper and Row.
Verba, Sydney, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry E. Brady. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wallsten, Kevin. 2007. “Agenda Setting and the Blogosphere: An Analysis of the Relationship between Mainstream Media and Political Blogs.” Review of Policy Research 24 (6): 567–587.
Washington, George. 1796. “Farewell Address.” Available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp. Accessed on July 13, 2014.
Wellman, Barry, Anabel Quan Hasse, James White, and Keith Hampton. 2001. “Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital?” American Behavioral Scientist 45: 436–455.
Zukin, Cliff, Scott Keeter, Molly Andolina, Krista Jenkins, and Michael X. Delli Carpini. 2006. A New Engagement’? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. New York City: Oxford University Press.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2015 Suzanne M. Chod, William J. Muck, and Stephen M. Caliendo
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moffett, K.W., Rice, L.L. (2015). Taking College-Level Political Science Courses and Civic Activity. In: Chod, S.M., Muck, W.J., Caliendo, S.M. (eds) Technology and Civic Engagement in the College Classroom. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-50451-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-50451-7_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57369-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50451-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Education CollectionEducation (R0)