Civic Attitudes Research Articles

Participatory Budget as a Tool Supporting the Development of Civil Society in Poland

Abstract Although three decades have passed since the fall of communism in Poland, the observed level of social activity in the country is relatively low. Participatory budget emerged as an idea to increase the involvement of citizens in decision-making processes concerning their immediate surroundings. In addition to their inclusion in the activity of local government, this form of citizen participation is expected to have a positive impact on residents’ involvement in activities for the benefit of the local community. The aim of this article is to indicate the conditions that influenced the implementation of the idea of the first participatory budget in Poland and emphasizing the importance of the civic budget in managing public administration through partial decentralization involving local communities in social dialogue for local investment initiatives, especially in large provincial cities in Poland. The following research question was adopted in the paper: has the introduction of a participatory budget in Poland increased social activity and has it been conducive to the development of civil society. In Poland, the initiative to create a civic budget met good political conditions in the relatively small city of Sopot, which had the resources to implement the project. After successful implementation, this initiative was relatively quickly adopted by other Polish local governments, which then on their own introduced social consultations called the civic budget. Not all poviats introduced the civic budget of their own volition. The government, seeing the possibility of political discounting of this new solution, decided to introduce a mandatory participatory budget in town counties and ordered the allocation of funds from their budgets, no less than 1 % of budget expenditure. The article relies on the case-study method, comparative analysis and trend analysis, qualitative and quantitative methods of description, document analysis and statistical data. The analysis focuses on the town of Sopot and provincial capitals. Local conditions are important for understanding the processes of shaping active civic attitudes in Poland, because cities are the poles of development of civil society and give impetus to innovative changes in the entire socio-economic system. The materials used in the article include reports, documents and legal acts regarding the functioning of the town of Sopot. The study showed that the participatory budget indeed activates the local community around various projects. At the same time, the question of directly translating this activity into an increase in the number of organizations, associations and foundations remains debatable. The introduction of the participatory budget to administrative management practice in local-government units in Poland should be considered in terms of the soft power impact of administration on the shaping and development of civil society, which is still in the development stage in Poland.

Sibling relationships and civic engagement: A longitudinal study of Chinese young adults

This study examined the longitudinal associations of sibling intimacy and conflict with civic attitudes and behaviours among Chinese young adults. At two time points separated by about 12 months, questionnaire data were collected from 272 Chinese college students (mean age at Time 1=19.68 years; 69% female), students who studied in Hong Kong and had at least one sibling. Students rated their intimacy and conflict with their siblings and their parents at Time 1, and their civic attitudes and behaviours at both time points. Hierarchical regression revealed that, controlling for demographic characteristics and parent-child intimacy and conflict, sibling intimacy predicted increases in both civic attitudes and behaviours. Sibling conflict was a non-significant predictor, however. Findings highlighted the roles of siblings in understanding civic development in young adulthood and the utility of targeting sibling intimacy as means to foster young adults' positive attitudes to and active participation in civic activities.

Perching birds or scattered streams: a study of how trust affects civic engagement among university students in contemporary China

This article explores how trust affects the nature and characteristics of civic engagement among university students in contemporary China. We draw upon empirical evidence from in-depth individual interviews involving 68 students born between 1993 and 1999. Four different types of civic activities, including associational membership with the Chinese Communist Party as well as self-organised town-fellowship associations, volunteering and digital activism, are analysed in relation to bridging, bonding and/or obligatory relationships. Generalised trust amongst university students seems to be low, but they do exhibit unquestioned trust in the State. The organisations with which they associate either are top-down through the Communist Party, which is ideologically narrow and socially distant among the members, or promote geographical origin-based bonding rather than bridging relationships. Our findings add new depth to our understanding of the relationships between the dominant modalities of trust and the typical form of civic participation in Chinese universities. We also highlight the effects of increasing meritocratic competition and stress on performativity on the civic attitudes and behaviour of students. We argue that the hybrid of neoliberal individualism and Confucianism seems to be a perfect match to reconcile the absence of civic traditions and to validate civic consciousness among university youth.

CASD-14: A Questionnaire on Civic Attitudes and Sustainable Development Values for Service-Learning in Early Adolescents

The service-learning disciplines can offer a unique opportunity for the civic development of sustainable values, as there is a large body of research that links them to values and civic attitudes. Given the need to develop instruments to measure the impact of service-learning methodology in early adolescence, a questionnaire was developed. For this purpose, a group of experts in the field of service-learning proposed a battery of items measuring three different constructs, named as follows: solidarity, compromise–responsibility and respect–dialog. The factor structure was examined, as well as its invariance across sex. The questionnaire confirmed good psychometric properties. Furthermore, the results have shown optimal goodness-of-fit indices. Sex was a variable to consider, as the analysis of invariance did not reach the scalar level. Lastly, the CASD-14 showed optimal test–retest reliability for both subsamples after eight months. The greatest contribution of this study is that it provides a direction for the application and sustainable development of the current scale, which might be considered a valuable assessment tool for early adolescent students’ service-learning. More research is needed with regard to sex-related differences in early adolescence.

PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF CIVIC IDENTITY GENESIS

We consider inheritance, social perception, acceptance of stereotypes, social categorization/self-categorization, identification, interiorization, self-reflection and sense-making processes to be basic psychological mechanisms of civic identity formation. Civic identity is formed during civic socialization and has four basic stages: the information-perceptual stage (covering the preschool and early school age), the content-normative stage (encompassing the secondary school age / adolescence), the value-semantic stage (covering the youth age) and the integration-identification stage (covering the period of early adulthood). The mechanisms of social perception and imitations dominate at the informational-perceptual stage of civic identity formation. Children perceive organizational elements of the state, copy civic attitudes of their parents and other reference people. As a result, children gain the first non-systematic understanding of the state, government, citizenship and civicism. At the content-normative stage, mechanisms of social categorization/self-categorization and acceptance of stereotypes ensure civic self-categorization and understanding of the relevant concepts, such as a citizen's social role, the state and a community of citizens, civil rights and duties, state and civic values (usually in a simplified schematic form). At the value-semantic stage, an individual accepts (or rejects) the social role of a citizen and forms conception of him/herself as a citizen of a certain state (self-identification) due to identification mechanism, while the interiorization mechanism makes the individual adopt some civic and state values, norms and behavioural patterns. At the integration-identification stage, the mechanisms of self-reflection and sense-making become dominating. This causes an individual to reassess his/her already existing experience of civic practices, interaction with the state and its citizens. Understanding of personal responsibility for the state and society grows. The questions giving sense and values to the state and citizen community become actualized.

Shaping College Students’ Civic Attitudes Through Faculty Teaching Practices and Student-Faculty Interactions

Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study examined the relationship between several faculty practices and interactions with students and students’ civic engagement attitudes. Several faculty practices were associated with positive civic attitudes, including frequency of student–faculty contact, use of cooperative learning classroom activities, use of course content that helps students see connections between intended careers and how they affect society, and use of course content that helps students understand the historical, political, and social connections of past events. Implications for institutional policy and practice are discussed.

Paying It Forward: Does Teaching Philanthropy Change Behavior After Graduation?

Although several studies have attempted to capture civic learning, philanthropic attitudes, career outcomes, and behavioral intentions immediately following the completion of an undergraduate student philanthropy service-learning course, there is a lack of research on the sustained effects of this high-impact practice. This study assessed the long-term effects of a philanthropy-based service-learning program compared with a matched sample of alumni who did not participate in a philanthropy-based course. Alumni completed surveys assessing demographics, current rates of volunteerism, charitable giving, and engagement within the nonprofit sector. They also completed the Civic Engagement Scale and the Civic Minded Graduate Scale. Philanthropy program alumni focus groups were conducted. The two groups did not differ on behavioral outcomes such as volunteerism and philanthropic giving; however, significant differences were found for civic attitudes and dispositions. Recommendations for best practices for philanthropy-based course design and implications for nonprofit education and leadership programs are discussed.Subscribe to JNEL

Profiles of adolescents’ civic attitudes in sixteen countries: Examining cross-cohort changes from 1999 to 2009

The purpose of this study is to examine profiles of students’ attitudes toward citizenship norms and inclusiveness in the political process, focusing on changes in the frequency of particular profiles and in the strength of predictors across a decade. Using data from 16 countries participating in the 1999 and 2009 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement civic education studies, we identified five attitudinal profiles. Profiles defined by negative attitudes toward diverse social groups decreased over time, whereas profiles defined by very positive attitudes toward diverse groups increased, particularly in western Europe. Although some post-Communist countries demonstrated trends toward more positive attitudinal profiles, others trended toward profiles defined by weaker citizenship norms. Across countries and cohorts, more positive profiles were associated with stronger school climates and expectations of civic participation.

Building Community Group Intervention: Exploring Outcomes on Multicultural and Civic Engagement Skills with Upper Elementary Students

As students living in urban communities face unique challenges, social-emotional programming is needed that fosters multicultural enrichment and civic engagement. We developed and pilot tested Building Community, a small group intervention, to foster multicultural and civic engagement skills. Building Community is a culturally relevant short-term group intervention for upper elementary-aged students that draws upon the multicultural literature and Six Cs positive youth development and civic engagement research as reported by Zarrett and Lerner (Child Trends 11:1–5, 2008). A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used to explore outcomes on multicultural development and civic engagement among five ethnically diverse elementary-aged students. Findings suggested an emerging sense of multicultural development and expanding awareness of ways to engage in the community. Although quantitative analyses revealed little change, there was a small increase in the Civic Attitudes subscale that corresponded with qualitative themes from interviews and artifacts. Implications for school psychologists and practitioners working with multiculturally diverse students are described.

Borgaravitund ungmenna skoðuð í ljósi uppeldissýnar foreldra þeirra

Mikilvægt er fyrir framtíð lýðræðissamfélaga að hlúa strax í æsku að borgaravitund barna og ungmenna, bæði góðum gildum og þátttöku í samfélaginu. Í þessari tilviksrannsókn var skoðað hvernig borgaravitund tveggja ungmenna endurspeglar uppeldissýn foreldra þeirra og gefa meginniðurstöður hennar til kynna skýra samsvörun þar á milli. Veganesti foreldranna var áhersla á náin samskipti sem einkenndust af umhyggju og stuðningi, djúpar samræður og gildismat þar sem vægi virðingar, skilnings, velferðar samborgara og samfélagsábyrgðar var mikið. Þá nefndu bæði foreldrarnir og ungmennin mikilvægi nokkurra óformlegra borgaralegra viðmiða, eins og að fylgja lögum, vera vinnusamur og koma vel fram við aðra. Gildi rannsóknarinnar liggur í vísbendingum um að foreldrar gegni mikilvægu hlutverki við að efla borgaravitund barna sinna. Til að styðja við borgaravitund ungmenna þurfa foreldrar að setja það í forgang í uppeldinu að rækta góð samskipti, hlúa að gildismati og gefa samræðu þar sem rædd eru ólík sjónarmið og lausnir fundnar aukið vægi.

УПРОВАДЖЕННЯ ПРОГРАМ ПРОФІЛАКТИКИ ШКІЛЬНОГО БУЛІНГУ СЕРЕД ПІДЛІТКІВ

At present, in the Ukrainian society, there is a gradual transition from the "interest" of bullying problems to implement a practical program to counteract bullying in the school environment. Programs are being implemented with support the MES of Ukraine using conflicting functionality, changing and navigating non-violent behavior and civic attitudes. The results of the empirical study made it possible to pay attention to the need to change approaches when using bullying prevention technology among adolescents. In particular, it was determined that not only forms of preventive training play a major role in preventing bullying, but the use of techniques, methods, ways of information submission by the subjects who carry it out, and features of interpersonal interaction with adolescents. Often, they have signs of prejudice and stigma that provoke aggression and bullying cases.

Latent class analysis of ‘good citizenship’ forms among youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Using a person-centred statistical approach (latent class analysis) this study aims to categorise young citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina according to their citizenship norms, level of trust in institutions and propensity toward political gender stereotyping. We employed the data from The National Survey of Citizens’ Perceptions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (NSCP-B&H) 2017, which documents the civic attitudes of a nationally representative sample of adults (18+) from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since this study focuses on the youth, we extracted a sub-sample of 831 young individuals born between 1987 and 2001. Applying latent class analysis, we derived two distinct classes of young citizens with a unique set of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours related to the role of citizens in modern societies, namely ‘enthusiastic citizens’ and ‘outsiders’. The findings offer valuable insights for policy-makers about the design and implementation of measures that aims to foster active citizenship in the laggard transitional economy. Also, it advances the research agenda on citizenship norms beyond the Western European context.

Żywot Tadeusza Reytena Juliana Ursyna Niemcewicza

‘The Life of Tadeusz Rejten’ by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz was published in the fourth part of the publication entitled ‘Portraits of Famous Poles’ in February 1821. The series dated back to 1820. Its initiators were Aleksander Chodkiewicz (the author of the majority of the biographies) and a lithographer Walenty Śliwicki. Rejtan’s biography is not extensive as it has four pages. Niemcewicz’s goal was not to present the entire history of his life, but to concentrate on the most important information and events, best characterising the person. The most important of them is Rejtan’s participation in the Sejm of 1773 and his heroic attitude in defence of law and sovereignty, which are presented in detail. Another fact from Rejtan’s biography is his suicidal death in 1780. Niemcewicz shows Rejtan as an example of fearless virtue and civic attitude.

HUMAN SPIRITUAL ORIENTATIONS IN PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCE

The article deals with issues related to spirituality, first of all, with the spiritual and moral development of the individual. The problem of spirituality today is important because, analyzing the psychological state of Ukrainian society, one can argue that there is a spiritual crisis. This is because each sphere of social life has a significant effect on the emotional state of the individual, including the destructive one. Therefore, such a situation necessitates the analysis of a person’s spiritual guidance in pedagogical science.It is found that the continuous presence of the spiritual aspect in the ideological, intellectual, and cultural sphere is explained by the fact that the problem of spirituality does not have a single interpretation. Because different definitions of spirituality are based on the views of their authors, this creates a discussion about the understanding of spirituality. Such phenomena indicate that the emotional perception of the essence of spirituality is conditioned by the endless diversity of personal passions and preferences. This tendency can be explained by the fact that spirituality is a philosophical and religious category that over time is incorporated into pedagogy.It is established that «spirituality» is a complex multifaceted process that characterizes the inner world of man and manifests himself through morality, preservation of pure conscience, selflessness, responsibility, service to people through virtue, courtesy in relationships. Spirituality can also be seen as the inner life of subject, his feelings, thoughts, attitudes, relationships aimed at the awareness and realization of Truth, Good and Beauty. Spirituality shapes the moral orientation of man, and through self-improve- ment promotes the enrichment of the inner world. In turn, according to modern definitions, under the spirituality should be un- derstood the integrated ability of the individual, which manifests itself in the need to live, to create in accordance with the ideals of truth, good, beauty. Spirituality is seen as an indicator of human relationships, moral-aesthetic and civic attitudes, the capacity for compassion, empathy, charity.Spirituality is the deep essence of a person, which defines him as a person. Man is spiritual insofar as he accepts the absolute as his own subjective spirit. Therefore, spirituality manifests itself to its fullest extent when its carrier engages in personal relationship with God. Then spirituality becomes a way of life of a person. The analysis of the meaning of human being through the categories of «spirit» and «spirituality» interprets the person through the capacity for self-reproduction, through the ability to independently choose and shape their individuality. Therefore, the meaning of spirituality lies in the synthesis of various activities of man.

Civic identity development: ontogenetic aspect

Civic identity is developed through the information-perceptual, content-normative, value-semantic and integration-identification stages. It was identified (at the theoretical and empirical levels) that the basic factors of the civic identity development at its various stages are basic interpersonal needs; basic beliefs; the values of the parental family; civic attitudes of reference persons; social integration (experience of interpersonal relationships with peers); value-semantic orientations; subjectness activity; prosocial focus; social trust (including institutional); the fact of meeting the needs of physical and social existence in the state (level of social frustration); experience of interaction with the state in the form of its various agencies.

Habilitacje w Polsce Ludowej. Część 2. Warunki i przebieg habilitacji w prawie o stopniach i tytułach naukowych

Habilitation proceedings ending with a conferral of an academic degree were first introduced in the Polish People’s Republic by virtue of the Act on higher education of 1958. The academic title of docent, which the Act also provided for, was later endorsed by the Act of 1965 on academic titles and academic degrees. Another academic degree of ‘habilitated doctor’ (doktor habilitowany) functioned from 1968 and continued through subsequent legislative acts in force until 1990 as well as through the years after later reforms. The changes in higher education implemented in 1965–1990 were not fi nal and continued to be modifi ed in the following areas: (1) the branches and science and disciplines in which the academic degrees of docent or doktor habilitowany could be conferred; (2) the requirements which institutions (establishments of higher education, research units of the Polish Academy of Sciences and other research entities) had to fulfi l before earning the rights to confer the academic degrees referred to above; (3) establishment of the lists of institutions entitled to confer these academic degrees. The solutions then adopted were by no means triggered by the intention to replace the academic degree of docent with a degree of doktor habilitowany. On the contrary, the majority of changes, of which those happening after 1985 were even more politically biased, did not refl ect any legal need but aimed at restricting the autonomy of schools of higher education in the scope of conferring academic degrees. This tendency extended to the conditions of commencing habilitation proceedings and the very course of the proceedings. As of 1985 one of the requirements of the key factors qualifying successful candidates was an ‘impeccable civic attitude.’ After 1985, most of the activities which had been till then conducted by committees appointed Faculty councils, were to be taken up by the relevant councils, although the latter were allowed to appoint from time to time committees to perform some of the activities related to habilitation proceedings. The Act of 1965 abandoned the requirement of the candidate’s habilitation lecture, re-established in 1985.

Alienated and disaffected students: Exploring the civic capacity of ‘Outsiders’ in Latin America

The aim of the study is to explore alienated and disaffected students in Latin America and investigate the development of their civic attitudes. The study has focused on a context that is assuming growing importance globally and about which more needs to be known, especially in terms of its potential for democratic development. The focus is on students from Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico. Three distinct groups of students were identified labeled ‘Outsiders’, ‘Moderates’, and ‘Active Participators’. The ‘Outsiders’ had lowest scores on all civic values. Gender, parents’ political and social interest, students’ expected education level and home literacy were the four most important predictors for membership in the ‘Outsider’ group. Implications and future directions for research on Latin American ‘Outsiders’ are discussed.

Level of Civic Knowledge and Attitude as Antidotes of Civic Engagement among Secondary School Students in Oyo State, Nigeria

The study investigated the level of civic knowledge and attitude as antidotes of civic engagement of secondary institution students in Oyo State. It also examined their attitude towards civic engagement. The research design is descriptive of the survey type. Population comprised all 411,912 public schools in urban and rural areas in Oyo State. Sample was 600 public school students selected using multistage sampling procedure. The instrument used was titled ‘Students’ Civic Engagement Questionnaire’ (SCEQ). The instrument was validated through face and content validity while reliability of the tool was established using Cronbach’s alpha method and a coefficient of 0.72 was obtained. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics for the research questions raised. It was found that the level of secondary school students’ civic knowledge and engagement was moderate, while their attitude towards civic engagement was negative. Based on the results it is suggested that students be enlightened to take part in civic obligations in order to develop positive attitudes towards civic engagement. Additionally, non- governmental organisations should intensify efforts in campaigning and promoting civic duties as this could increase the awareness of the citizens.

Od przypadkowości do bezradności. Aktywność poznawcza internautów w sprawach publicznych

In the article, the authors propose a typology of political knowledge from online learning activities and test its validity in an empirical qualitative study. The essence of their proposal is that meaningful study of the process of acquiring knowledge (rational analysis of factors modifying attitudes) must take into account both the perspective of the citizen (the demand for information) and an analysis of the publicly available knowledge (the supply of information). The authors distinguish three main methods of acquiring information: heuristic, reflective, and by-product learning. They note the importance of generational factors in shaping the cognitive activity of Internet users. There has been a gradual increase in the importance of source management, with simultaneous alienation and skepticism towards information obtained on the Internet. While the authors’ analysis is restricted to the Internet, their approach is not reductionist in that they consider the internet to be a medium for traditional media and its influence on civic attitudes.

Social values and civic behaviour among youth in Ireland: The influence of social contexts

As youth civic engagement is widely considered important for social cohesion and democracy, concerns have been expressed regarding a perceived decline in civic and political engagement among young people throughout the western world. While research has shown that the social environment is influential in terms of the development of civic values, knowledge and behaviours among youth, limited research has been conducted on these issues in an Irish context. Drawing on survey research conducted with 167 young people aged 12–15 years in Irish secondary schools, this paper examines young people's civic attitudes and behaviours and how they are linked to their social contexts. Findings indicate that youth report high levels of social responsibility values but low engagement in both online and offline civic engagement. Furthermore, while parent, peer, school and/or community contexts were found to have a significant influence on youths' social responsibility values and offline civic behaviours, youth's online civic behaviours were not connected to these social environments. This study provides insights into the socialisation of civic values and behaviours among young people in Ireland and highlights the importance of investigating the link between the social context and different forms of youth civic involvement.