Participation In Civic Society Research Articles

Political spillovers of workplace democracy in Germany

AbstractAlthough works councils provide a highly developed mechanism to promote workplace democracy, research on their consequences has been dominated by economic aspects. This study brings a new perspective to the understanding of works councils by examining their influence on workers’ political behavior. Political spillover theory suggests that participation in the firm's decision making has the potential to foster workers’ political participation in civic society. Our study for Germany indeed finds a positive association between the presence of a works council and workers’ interest in politics. This holds in panel data estimations including a large set of controls and accounting for unobserved individual‐specific factors. However, separate estimations by gender show a positive association between works councils and political interest only for men, but not for women. Traditional gender roles may make it difficult for women to be politically engaged even when a works council is present.

A Study in Anxiety of the Dark

A Study in Anxiety of the Dark

Communities of Darkness? Users and Uses of Anti-System Alternative Media between Audience and Community

The hopes regarding the positive impact of the Internet and digital participation in civic society have faded in recent years. The digital realm is now increasingly discussed regarding its role in putting democracy in jeopardy and polarizing public debate by propagating extremist views and falsehoods. Likewise, the perception of so-called alternative media as beneficial carriers of counter-public spheres and as important complements to mainstream positions in social debate has flipped. Alternative media are now often associated with the “Wicked web” of disinformation, political populism, or even radicalization. Following Quandt’s (2018) notion of ‘dark participation’ and Phillips and Milner’s (2017) description of the Internet as ambivalent, this article asks, whether the same holds true for the users of alternative media: a segment of the audience traditionally discussed in terms of community, engagement, participation, and strong ideological identification with progressive political causes. Do users of ‘dark’ alternative media bond with their media in similar ways to constitute communities of darkness? Based on interviews with 35 users of alternative media from a left-leaning, right-wing, Russian-tied and/or conspiracy spectrum users, uses of alternative media are pictured as grey rather than black or white. The findings illuminate the ambivalences within alternative media users as audiences and communities. Ambivalences are found regarding the use of alternative sources as audience or community members, regarding a shared attitude of criticality and anti-systemness, which connects trans-medially and trans-ideologically, as well as the experienced comfort of community, which can become a main motivation for use.

Challenges and threats to Polish migration policy. The system of public assistance dedicated to foreign migrants in contemporary Poland

The article portrays the situation for migrants in Poland. The authors describe types of help offered to applicants for refugee status on Polish territory. The paper underlines that Poland has evolved from an emigration country into an immigration one over the past two decades; as a result of this phenomena, contemporary society faces a situation unknown to the previous generation. Integration of migrants and their participation in civic society should be a priority matter for policy makers. The nature of migration problems is overcomplicated, and the authors of the article aim at identifying the main challenges in order to effectively influence migration policy.

Building a Multicultural Coalition: Promoting Participation in Civic Society among Ethnic Minority Communities

An extensive body of literature on participation and civic engagement documents the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the political processes of their adoptive countries and the systemic causes for this occurrence. However, there remains a critical need to understand how to address this issue for the benefit of ethnic minority communities, governments, and society. In this article, the authors describe the development of a multicultural coalition and strategies used that promote participation in civic society. Findings suggest that public institutions can successfully create the space for meaningful civic engagement if attention is paid to the diverse understandings of what political participation means in Canadian society from the perspective of ethnic minority communities. De nombreuses études sur la participation et l'engagement civique des minorités ethniques documentent leur sous-représentation dans les processus politiques de leurs pays d'adoption et les causes systémiques de ce phénomène. Un besoin critique se fait cependant encore sentir, de comprendre comment faire face à ce problème pour le bénéfice de ces communautés, des gouvernements et de la société. Dans cet article, les auteurs décrivent le développement d'une coalition multiculturelle et les stratégies employées pour promouvoir cette participation à la société civile. Nos résultats suggèrent que les institutions peuvent ouvrir avec succès un espace à un engagement civique qui ait du sens, si on porte attention à une compréhension diverse de ce que la participation politique signifie dans une société canadienne qui inclue le point de vue des communautés ethniques minoritaires.

Spirituality Meets Civic Engagement

This paper starts with David Hay’s data about the vast increase over the last fifteen years in people in the UK having religious experiences. This data confirms the underlying religious dispositions of the British, although there is clearly a significant decline of participation in religious institutions. However, as many have noted, religious organizations are amongst the strongest in civic society (more people are in church than are involved in political parties). So we need to tap into the spiritual motivation to encourage a range of participation in civic society, from Boy Scouts to Rotary. The American sociologist Nancy Ammerman has shown that the more a person is involved in one organization the more they end up being involved in lots of organizations. Therefore spirituality is an important basis for civic engagement.

Generation and Class: Young People's New, Diverse Patterns of Life and Their Implications for Recognising Participation in Civic Society

Generation and Class: Young People's New, Diverse Patterns of Life and Their Implications for Recognising Participation in Civic Society

The Challenge of Creationism and Intelligent Design: An Introduction

by Andrew FraknoiFoothill College and Astronomical Society of PacificPosted: 10/03/05The Astronomy Education Review, Issue 1, Volume 4:90-94, 2005© 2005, Andrew Fraknoi. Copyright assigned to Association of Universities for Research inAstronomy, Inc.Readers of Astronomy Education Review probably don’t need to be told that scientific world viewis under attack in many places around world. Here in United States, ideas from both modernbiology and astronomy are being challenged by religious fundamentalists in several states. In Kansas andelsewhere, organized movements have as their aim to deny scientific evidence about both evolutionof species and age of universe. A new doctrine called intelligent design is being touted as a scientific alternative to evolution, althoughthere is no evidence for it from any reputable peer-reviewed source. Even president of UnitedStates has weighed in on issue, suggesting that such alternative views should be given a forum in ourscience classes. While we believe that evolution as studied and understood by mainstream scientists is inno way incompatible with religious faith, we also believe that science classes should teach science—bydefinition, the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoreticalexplanation of phenomena. Recent surveys continue to document that public understanding of science in United States isdepressingly low. In 2000, National Assessment of Educational Progress indicated that only 29% offourth graders, 32% of eighth graders, and a depressing 18% of twelfth graders performed at or above thelevel termed proficient in science for their grade. Nor are their parents doing much better. The NSFScience & Engineering Indicators of 2004 reports that fewer than 1/5 of adult Americans can beconsidered minimally science literate in sense required for participation in civic society.

Youth Research in Australia and New Zealand

This article draws selectively on youth research in Australia and New Zealand to illustrate the distinctive nature of this emerging field. It reveals a vibrant, interdisciplinary field, which has developed rapidly from its derivative beginnings in the post-war period to a significant and distinctive field that is challenging theoretical and methodological traditions and providing new approaches to understanding youth, society and social change. The article highlights distinctive approaches to youth research that are characterized by two key elements. These are: (a) local conditions under which young people are growing up in Australia and New Zealand, including the ongoing shaping of meaning of indigeneity; and (b) active engagement with international debates on youth. The article first explores the traditions dominating the early conceptualization of youth in Australia and New Zealand, including the Birmingham school in the UK and psychological theories of development from the US. Next, the article describes how these traditions have resulted in a reconceptualization of youth in Australia and New Zealand. This is illustrated in discussions of the way in which discourses of youth and indigeneity and of health have been rethought. The paper also discusses emerging research traditions in the area of new identities and youth subjectivities, on young people’s participation in civic society and their engagement with global and virtual youth cultures.

Educating Citizens in a Post 9/11 Era: Rebuilding Community in Civil Society

In attempting to develop approaches to fostering in young people greater participation in civic society, both nationally and internationally, educators and those with an interest and commitment to citizenship education face enormous challenges. Educators are working within contexts where the politicization of the curriculum and the promotion of simple solutions to complex global problems have the potential not to promote democratic participation but to undermine it. This paper explores the development of a multidimensional approach to citizenship education as a way of reclaiming a sense of community, nationally and internationally. Against the background of the terrorist attack on the USA in September 2001, the paper presents findings from three international studies on citizenship education which lead to the presentation of a model for multidimensional citizenship which challenges narrow, nationalistic approaches to dealing with global issues and suggests that what is necessary is an approach to citizenship education which offers the potential to solve global problems.