Growing into politics? The development of adolescents’ views on democracy over time

Abstract

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.

Compensating or reproducing? Students from different educational tracks and the role of school in experiencing democratic citizenship

“…Citizenship is inextricably connected to democracy (Geijsel, Ledoux, Reumerman, & Ten Dam, 2012;Hattam, 2016;Miller, 2000;Nieuwelink, Dekker, & Ten Dam, 2018). Citizenship and democracy are connected to the political domain but, especially for adolescents, also to other spheres of life, such as the household, voluntary associations and schools (Nieuwelink, Ten Dam, Geijsel, & Dekker, 2017;Sapiro, 2004). In this article, we focus on three aspects of democracy and citizenship.…”

“…Adolescent political participation is also rather limited (Elchardus, Herbots, & Spruyt, 2013;Munniksma et al, 2017). Adolescents are, therefore, more positively oriented towards democracy and democratic values than they are towards formal political institutions (Nieuwelink et al, 2016a(Nieuwelink et al, , 2017Schulz et al, 2010). Furthermore, young people have different orientations towards democratic citizenship.…”

“…Students on college-bound track often possess more knowledge of democracy, citizenship and politics than those on vocational tracks. Many studies show that those on the former track possess more positive views towards democracy than those on the latter, but some studies show the reverse relationship (Elchardus et al, 2013;Flanagan et al, 2005;Nieuwelink et al, 2017Nieuwelink et al, , 2018Schulz et al, 2010).…”

Our Democracy: Czech Adolescents Talk About the Meaning of Democracy and Attitudes Toward Immigrants

“…They also emphasized the strength of the voice of majority and only some recognized the voice of the minorities in decision making (cf. Nieuwelink et al., ). This opinion was very much present in context of attitudes toward immigrants.…”

“…Recent research among adolescents has indicated that the understanding of democracy that emphasizes individual rights and freedoms, democratic representation, and civic equality prevails (De Groot et al., ; Flanagan, ; Flanagan, Gallay, Gill, Gallay, & Nti, ; Husfeldt & Nikolova, ). Longitudinal study of adolescents in the Netherlands showed that during adolescence, young people become more familiar with politics (Nieuwelink, Dam, Geijsel, & Dekker, ). Nevertheless, they do not necessary develop more complex views on democratic decision‐making.…”