Structural Determinants of Student Political Activity: A Comparative Interpretation

Abstract

The argument is advanced that the level of university student political activity in a society tends to reflect the degree to which the student social status is developed and formulated as a social type. In societies in which this position is incorborated centrally and is given a great deal of distinctive meaning, political activity will tend to be high. This is particularly true when the student status is normatively incorporated in, regulated by, and given meaning with respect to the national political system. The educational system and the student status tend to be centrally incorporated and highly defined in modern societies because they provide normative and symbolic answers to certain crucial problems which arise in the nation-building process: the justification of the integration and political authority of citizens and the legitimation and explanation of elite authority. Thus, students tend to be seen in most nations as a peculiarly important corporate constituent of the national society and tend to be more politically active than many other groups. The historically exceptional position of students in the United States and the recent changes toward a more typical level of politicization are considered. THE DRAMATIC NATURE of student protest in the last few years has provoked many attempts at explanation. Empirical studies have examined the characteristics of the individual university students involved: their social class backgrounds, the political and ideological orientations of their families, their academic competence, and various psychological properties. (See, for example,