Civic Action Research Articles

Study of positive value attitude of university students to patriotism

Introduction. In modern conditions, in connection with the active process of integration of states and the internationalization of education, the issues of patriotic education of youth are becoming increasingly important. Patriotism is the main aspect of the sociocultural sphere. It becomes a priority to deeply understand how patriotism is perceived by young people, and how these views can influence the formation of young people’s civic, national identity, their willingness to participate in world initiatives and overcome global challenges. The purpose of the study is to study aspects of the positive value attitude of university students to patriotism and to determine the main levels and criteria for the formation of patriotic values. Materials and methods. The study involved university students in Petrozavodsk (Russia) in the areas of training “Pedagogical education (with two profiles of training) Life Safety and Physical Culture” and “Musicology and Musical Applied Arts” (n=99). Research methods: literature analysis, questionnaires, analysis of student works (essays), methods of descriptive statistics using MS Excel. Results. Within the framework of this study, key aspects are identified that influence students’ positive value attitude towards patriotism, such as: education, family upbringing, socio-cultural environment of the university and regional characteristics. The prevalence of a high level of positive-value attitude towards patriotism with a pronounced socially significant component among students-musicians and a focus on personal significance in the realization of life goals among student teachers is shown. Analysis of the data, according to the general indicator, showed that 61.8% of respondents have a high level of positive value attitude towards patriotism; average – 27.7%; emotional passivity and a low level of attitude towards patriotism are characteristic of 10.5% of respondents. Discussion of results and conclusion. The positive value attitude of university students to patriotism is of great importance in the formation of civic activity, national consciousness and identity. The results of the study confirmed that this is manifested through a positive attitude towards one’s country and its values, promotes active participation in public life, political processes, volunteer events, as well as an understanding of one’s cultural and historical affiliation for the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage and traditions. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the development of diagnostic tools for assessing, forming and adjusting the positive value attitude of students to patriotism in the educational space of the university

Speculative frictions: writing civic futures after AI

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how young people imagine civic futures through speculative fiction writing about artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The authors argue that young people’s speculative fiction writing about AI not only helps make visible the ways they imagine the impacts of emerging technologies and the modes of collective action available for leveraging, resisting or countering them but also the frictions and fissures between the two.Design/methodology/approachThis practitioner research study used data from student artifacts (speculative fiction stories, prewriting and relevant unit work) as well as classroom fieldnotes. The authors used inductive coding to identify emergent patterns in the ways young people wrote about AI and civics, as well as deductive coding using digital civic ecologies framework.FindingsThe findings of this study spotlight both the breadth of intractable civic concerns that young people associate with AI, as well as the limitations of the civic frameworks for imagining political interventions to these challenges. Importantly, they also indicate that the process of speculative writing itself can help reconcile this disjuncture by opening space to dwell in, rather than resolve, the tensions between “the speculative” and the “civic.”Practical implicationsTeachers might use speculative fiction writing and the digital civic ecologies framework to support students in critically examining possible AI futures and effective civic actions within them.Originality/valueSpeculative fiction writing offers an avenue for students to analyze the growing civic concerns posed by emerging platform technologies like AI.

THE ROLE OF HUMANITARIAN DISCIPLINES IN UKRAINE'S HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM IN FORMING A SOLID LEVEL OF CIVIC CULTURE

The article aims to discuss the study of the humanities in universities as the most important factor influencing the development of students' culture and the creative evolution of the individual. The methods of pedagogical influence on students are described. One of the essential tasks of higher education is the education of a comprehensively developed personality capable of competently solving the complex problems of modern life. The profound changes occurring today in all spheres of life determine the specifics of civic education and the upbringing of young people. The article's authors showed the importance of the role of the humanities in forming a solid level of civic culture, which is the basis of the civic activity of the individual. Furthermore, humanitarian disciplines create conditions for developing students' civic position and legal culture, which is the basis for the harmonious development of society and the state as a whole.

Engaging youth in the local environment. Promoting sustainability action competence in Danish high school teaching through citizen social science.

Many young individuals experience a sense of disconnection from their immediate environment, which adversely affects their engagement in civic activities. This article outlines experiences with a sustainability actionable approach in a Danish high school, and how it influenced young people’s understanding of the local environment. The study entails a threemonth collaboration with a teacher and 17 high school students in Copenhagen who were being trained as citizen social scientists. They investigated and proposed youth-friendly sustainable changes in the neighbourhood, which enhanced their sustainability action competence. The article discusses how an action-oriented framework may inspire high school teachers to incorporate citizen social science in planning education for sustainable development that supports youth civic engagement.

In Case You Haven't Heard…

Eleventh‐graders at a western Massachusetts high school have created their own lesson in mental health advocacy. An assignment from Pioneer Valley Performing Arts School history teacher Gary Huggett has grown into an effort to convince Massachusetts state legislators to pass a bill establishing a mandatory mental health staffing ratio serving grades K–12, Spectrum News 1 reported. Students in Huggett's civic action class reported seeing themselves and their peers dealing with issues of anxiety and depression, and they are backing a Senate bill that would require Massachusetts schools to employ at least one mental health expert for every 250 enrolled students. “They all had somewhat personal stakes that drew them to the topic, so they thought, ‘What can we do to address mental health awareness in schools that will actually live beyond our little project?’” Huggett said of his students.

The influence of the urban model on civic involvement and public time. A study applied to the commuting population of the Greater Metropolitan Area of San José, Costa Rica

A major problem for policymakers is to ensure that levels of citizen participation reflect the society in its diversity, but they must also ensure that those citizens who want to get involved have the means to do so. Despite empirical evidence of the role of urban planning in health, well-being, and livability, studies have not delved into the implications of how low-density sprawled urban forms influence civic involvement. This paper adds new evidence regarding the significance of urban form, built environment characteristics and more in general city planning, as intermediary factors between public and private life connected to civic engagement and public space use. Based on surveys and geographic data from the Greater Metropolitan Area of San José, in Costa Rica, the article investigates how the results of citizen participation change depending on whether residents are from a compact or dispersed study area, relating to urban rhythms and mobility metrics. Findings suggest that inhabitants of group A (lower-density neighborhoods) differ significantly from group B (compact-city areas) in four variables: means of mobility, commuting time, public space use, and civic activism, while having similar sociodemographic composition. Compared with residents of group A, group B report higher levels of use and knowledge of public spaces and civic participation. These two aspects constitute, the Urban Civic Participation Index, which, related to self-reported free time, forms what we define as Public Time. The main characteristics of the compact city (higher population and building density, high street connectivity, grid presence and proximity of services, mixed land use) were found to be positively related to the outcomes of accessibility to public space and community participation. In contrast, there are no significant differences in the availability of free time between the two groups. This study, along with others on the compact city, shows that there are other reasons to reduce daily commuting distances in cities and the need of urban time policies to redesign urban society's temporal dimension besides the known environmental impacts. It also raises the question of how low urban density affects people's time and disposition to participate in public life.

Creating Space for Transformational Community Engagement: Examining Locally Focused Curriculum, Partnerships, and Praxis

In this study, we reflected on the process of designing and implementing a civics curriculum model focused on increasing upper-grade secondary students’ involvement in local civic activity. We prioritized examining the challenges and possibilities of institutionalizing partnerships between teachers, students, community leaders, and local government officials. The civics program model included a local government and community focus where students would share, refine, and cultivate social inquiries with community leaders. Additional learning experiences included supporting voter efficacy and learning about local civic structures and grassroots organizing. Using feedback from teachers and student participants, we describe the barriers and possibilities that emerged during the design and implementation of the curriculum. In our reflection on the curricular model, we discuss how, despite our challenges, the program’s collaborative and local inquiry-focused elements provided opportunities for teachers and students to identify in more agentic ways and push against the existing structures and discourses that might restrict their civic education experiences.

A person‐centred view of citizen participation in civic crowdfunding platforms: A mixed‐methods study of civic backers

AbstractCrowdfunding platforms have emerged as a promising contemporary means for mobilising collective civic actions to address local or social issues, improve community cohesion and develop the public good. This empirical study taps into the understudied civic crowdfunding platforms (CCP) developed to facilitate such actions, proposing, supporting and funding public‐interest projects through crowdsourcing and microfinancing. Previous studies have shown that individuals' characteristics affect their level of civic engagement with social issues. Considering the diversity of contributor motivations, we aim to shed light on the dynamics of emergent subpopulations of citizens who participate in CCPs. To this end, we use a sequential mixed‐methods approach to integrate our fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) findings with the results of an in‐depth qualitative study, to gain rich and robust inferences and meta‐inferences. In Study 1 (n = 316), we used fsQCA to explore five distinctive configural profiles that display the heterogeneity of civic backers' motivations, including civic champions, prosocial advocates, normative supporters, reward seekers and regret‐averse contributors. In Study 2, we corroborated and complemented our fsQCA inferences through an extreme‐case study and identified four boundary conditions. Taken together, our inferences and meta‐inferences address the heterogeneity of motivations for participating in CCPs, by understanding and theorising about diverse profiles of citizen backers. Finally, we offer practical implications for successful civic crowdfunding initiatives.

Digital citizenship in the 21st century: Analyzing the impact of social media on youth political activism and civic engagement

In the digital age, the internet and social media have emerged as pivotal platforms shaping the political consciousness of youth worldwide. This research article delves into this phenomenon, focusing on Kazakhstan in the backdrop of international trends. It aims to unravel how digital media influences political awareness, engagement, and activism among young citizens, particularly in Kazakhstan while drawing parallels with global patterns. The study adopts a comparative approach, juxtaposing the Kazakhstani experience against a tapestry of international instances, thereby uncovering unique regional dynamics alongside universal trends in digital political engagement.This analysis is grounded in a blend of quantitative data, detailed case studies, and theoretical frameworks from international relations and media studies. By examining the role of digital platforms in political mobilization, information dissemination, and opinion formation, the research underscores the transformative impact of these technologies on youth political participation. The Kazakhstani context, with its distinct historical, cultural, and political landscape, provides a rich case for understanding the interplay between technology and youth political behavior in a transitioning society.The article contributes to the literature by filling the gap regarding digital political engagement in non-Western contexts, particularly in Central Asia. It offers insights into the ways digital media serve as tools for political expression, community building, and civic activism among youth, highlighting the nuances of these interactions in Kazakhstan

Combating the exotic pet trade: Effects of conservation messaging on attitudes, demands, and civic intentions

AbstractThe exotic pet trade poses a major threat to biodiversity conservation. To combat biodiversity loss, it is essential to reduce demand for exotic pets and engage people in civic actions for wildlife conservation. Although messaging has been extensively used in conservation practice, little is known about how it can influence attitudes and various types of actions pertaining to the exotic pet trade. This study examined the impact of conservation messaging in the context of exotic pet ownership and wildlife entertainment visitation as common practices of the exotic pet trade. We randomly assigned participants in the United States to one of five messaging conditions: biodiversity loss and animal abuse (M1), zoonotic disease risks (M2), illegality (M3), social disapproval (M4), and neutral biological information as a control condition (M5). We found that all conservation messages (M1–M4) significantly decreased people's favorable attitudes toward the exotic pet trade and their desire to visit wildlife entertainment. However, conservation messaging did not influence the desire for exotic pet ownership or intentions to take civic actions. Our findings highlight the potential of conservation messaging for attitude change and demand reduction for wildlife entertainment, but different approaches are necessary for promoting more effortful actions such as exotic pet ownership and civic actions.

Designing equitable media literacy interventions for critical youth agency

In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based social movements centered on equity issues, such as Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, and March for Our Lives, engaged young people in shaping and publicizing the goals of these movements through digital platforms. Increasingly in communities at the margins, young Americans need digital and media literacy skills to supplement contentious education restrictions within the United States, as with many state bills curtailing the teaching of LGBTQIA+ histories and critical race theory. With these considerations in mind, our team conducted a national study of impactful media literacy in the United States. The study included an extensive literature review, interviews with key stakeholders, and a national survey of educators within the United States. Aimed at understanding the practices in formal and informal learning spaces, the research process inspired the creation of a field guide focused on offering resources for equity-focused media literacy practices that can support educators where professional structures could not, a core finding from our study on impactful media literacy. This paper shares the process for creating the Field Guide for Equitable Media Literacy Practices, developed and published as a form of public-facing scholarship to encourage all media literacy practitioners to undergo a transformative learning process. The field guide offers a series of approaches to equitable media literacy practices centered on equity and inclusion. While the research is U.S.-based, we believe the practices suggested within the field guide apply globally, especially as we see an increase in youth movements that impact beyond geographic and cultural boundaries.

Democracy’s Values and Ideals: A Duboisian Defence

Abstract This essay offers a Duboisian defense of democracy’s expressive and experimental values. It argues that the expressive value of democracy supports an ideal of inclusion, whereas the experimental value of democracy supports that of innovation. One appeals to the ideal of inclusion to extend to excluded groups codified constitutional protections and to condemn white hypocrisy. The ideal of innovation, in contrast, helps one reimagine what constitutional protections should be in the first place. Drawing on Du Bois’s writings, this essay argues that the civic activities of black American counter-publics exhibited both experimental and expressive democratic values. In particular, it highlights the innovations of black women civic leaders who reimagined care work under a public conception of the common good. It concludes that counter-publics shape the asymmetric moral insight of its participants, namely, the oppressed.

Revisiting the promise of eco-political experimentation: an introduction to the Special Issue

In light of pressing challenges such as climate change, real-life, participatory, adaptive, and reflexive experimental interventions have been framed as indispensable incubators for transformative change toward greater sustainability. Yet, to what extent are the promises that were attached to eco-political experimentation around the turn to the 21st Century still plausible today? In this introduction to this Special Issue on eco-political experimentation we first map the alternative that experimentation sought to be in the fields of knowledge production, governance, and civic activism and how critics responded to this agenda. We then make the case for reassessing the promises of experimentation against the backdrop of current societal constellations. These constellations include the renewed invocation of climate science as an authority that demands political action (an authority experimental knowledge production sought to decenter) and de facto return of the state and more centralized forms of governing (which experimental governance sought to go beyond). They also include the return of forms of activism that stress the importance of urgent and decisive action (which experimental action is in part an opposite to) as well as the emergence of civil society experiments in the service of exclusion if not authoritarianism (in contrast to values inclusivity and democracy that are usually attached to eco-political experimentation). The objective of this introduction, and the articles comprising this Special Issue, is to establish a sensorium for ambiguities which we regard as a precondition for experimental action that might actually achieve transformative change as opposed to merely generating hope for it.

Examining the Ethical and Geopolitical Context of Global Food Security Policy

The aim of this review (written in the summer 2023) is to stimulate the critical reflection of policy experts, academics, and civic activists in the field of food security and focus our attention to broader ethical and geopolitical aspects of food security debate. The critical comments of the review particularly refer to the final version of the report _Collective Action for Ending a Collective Problem: A Multi-stakeholder Project on Global Food Security_ published on 23rd July 2023 by the team of the Dublin City University led by Prof Phillip McDonagh. https://www.dcu.ie/sites/default/files/inline-files/Report%20-%20final%20%283%29.pdf One of the reasons for publishing this review at Queios is that this review was taken out of team discussion by the editors of the Report during its final stage, which seriously reduced the critical debate about its content and about some political-ethical aspects of food security in the current tense historical context, especially with regards to open wounds of the disastrously inhumane Putin´s war against Ukraine. The author of this review welcomes any feedback from both members of the Report team and general public, policy experts, academics or anybody involved in the area of food security theory and practice.

Социальные сети органов власти: вовлеченность молодежи и оценка эффективности

Introduction: the article discusses the problems and practices of using social networks in communication between the population and the authorities and presents discussions about the impact of social networks on the involvement of young people in civic and political activity. The task of forming effective digital models of communication between youth and government in social networks is becoming more urgent. Objectives: to study the involvement of young people in subscriptions to government accounts on social networks. Methods: survey of student and working youth of Yekaterinburg (n=1350) aged 15–35, conducted in September 2023; analysis of federal authorities accounts on the social network Vkontakte (n=22), indicators for September and November 2023 (TardetHunter analysis service and manual page viewing). Results: it is shown that young people are quite actively involved in digital practices of interaction with authorities, but do not use social networks as the main channel of communication with authorities, pay no attention to the presence of government accounts on social networks, and do not consider the presence of social networks to be indicators of authorities’ openness. A typology of youth is presented based on the level of involvement in the number of subscriptions to government agencies. An analysis of subscriber activity on government pages showed a low level of audience involvement. Conclusions: average assessments of the effectiveness of digital channels of interaction with authorities indicate that the vast majority of young people have doubts about their effectiveness; young people prefer a more formalized method even when using digital technologies. Social networks should rather be regarded as a new channel of communication with authorities for those young citizens who are already civically active.

Analysing Urban Social Networks for Civic Participation: Data-Intensive Insights from the Civic Participation Test

This research delves into the dynamics of civic engagement in urban settings. The sample of participants was broad, with ages ranging from 22 to 40 years, nearly equal gender distribution (52% female, 48% male), and a range of educational backgrounds, including postgraduates (35%), bachelor's degree holders (40%), and high school graduates (25%). Numerous chances for participation exist in urban environments, as seen by our examination of data on civic activities. These include voter registration campaigns, town hall meetings, and community clean-up initiatives. In addition, members' responsibilities in these activities varied: 35% attended events, 15% made financial contributions, and 45% actively volunteered. Our results highlight the significance of social networks in urban civic engagement by showing that individuals with a wide range of social connections were more likely to participate in civic activities. The study's findings highlight the complex nature of civic participation in cities and have applications for encouraging diversity and community building in urban environments.

Civil Rights and Civic Participation of Youth in Latvia

The path to the modern democratic model has been lengthy and contentious, culminating in the recognition of civil rights as guarantees of equal social opportunity and legal protection for all, irrespective of race, religion or other personal characteristics. Realising civil rights requires the active engagement of all societal members, including the youth, who are especially vital for the future. This article aims to elucidate the legal avenues for youth civic participation in Latvia, assess the current situation and provide insights into the historical evolution of civil rights. To achieve this, we examined the existing legal framework, analysed theoretical literature, gathered statistical data, drew conclusions and reviewed recent research on youth civic participation. While laws regulate the opportunities for youth in Latvia to engage in civic activities, they do not resolve participation issues. Data from the Saeima (the Parliament of Latvia) elections between 2002 and 2018 reveal a nearly 17% decline in voter turnout, with youth participation even lower. This reluctance to vote or run for office reflects a broader political distrust in society. Additionally, the lack of consistent civic education further undermines young people’s willingness to engage in civic activities. Keywords: civil rights; civic participation; democracy; engagement.

Connecting the American People: The Effects of New Modes of Communication during the American Presidential Campaign of 2020

This study analyzes the notion of “the American people” on the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) and Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) during their campaigns for the 2020 presidential elections. This quantitative and qualitative study highlights how different communication strategies transformed the way candidates defined the American people, which entailed a shift in democratic representation and in civic actions. Following a three-step methodology, it starts by underlining the various modes of “emergence” of the people (Rosanvallon 7), thanks to a lexical and rhetorical analysis of the tweets. To that end, a focus on the grammatical form “we” suggests that the communication of the candidates took advantage of the polysemy of the term for strategic purposes. Second, the creation of in-groups and out-groups produced a strict frame which gave “the people” its shape, suggesting a form of “representation as narrative” (Rosanvallon 192) that characterizes contemporary politics. Thirdly, testing the typology of “collective” and “connective” online action, developed by Lance Bennett and Alexandra Segerberg (1), the data reveals that Biden remained the leader of a classic scheme of “collective action,” while Trump’s communication strategy presented some characteristics of a “hybrid” scheme. Contrary to what has often been said of Trump’s controlling persona, our study suggests that his influence on his supporters’ voice has been weaker than Biden’s.

ВНЕДРЕНИЕ ИННОВАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ В ГРАЖДАНСКО-ПАТРИОТИЧЕСКОЕ ВОСПИТАНИЕ СТУДЕНТОВ ВУЗА НА ДИСЦИПЛИНЕ «БЕЗОПАСНОСТЬ ЖИЗНЕДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ»

This article investigates the introduction of innovative technologies in the civic and patriotic education of students on the example of Kazan State Power Engineering University (KSEU). The results of the implementation of such technologies show the improvement of material perception and active participation of students in the educational process, as well as the increase of their civic activity. This experience is of interest for educational institutions that strive for modern methods of education and training, and can serve as a model for other universities.

The negative impact of poor health on civic participation in older adults of the Baltic countries

Civic participation as a specific subtype of social participation in later life has received little attention from researchers. How to maintain the well-being and health of older adults through their involvement in the community is crucial to understand the prevalence of civic participation in older age, especially for those in poor health. This study fills the gap in knowledge on the relationship between the civic participation of older adults in the Baltics and their health status. The data come from a quantitative survey of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia’s residents aged 50 years and older (N = 2015) conducted in 2019-2020. Data were analysed based on Serratet et al. [1] concept of civic activity and health status, using descriptive statistics and multinomial regression analysis. The results show that the profile of civic participation people aged 50+ is asymmetrical: 1) individual rather than collective and social rather than political participation is prevalent, and 2) poor health limits the participation of older adults in almost every civic activity (especially those that are more resource-intensive). The research results can be helpful for social policymakers and practitioners (social workers).