What’s the Matter With Civil Society? The Declining Effect of Civic Involvement on Civic Identity Among Czech Adolescents

Abstract

This study shows that the beneficial impact of adolescents' involvement in civil society on their civic identity cannot be taken for granted. Employing the case of the Czech Republic, it is shown that this effect has vanished since early post-communism to the present day. Survey data from two different generations of Czech middle adolescents were analyzed: the postcommunist generation (collected in 1995; n=1,127) and the current generation (collected in 2010; n=976). While participants' associational involvement and volunteering predicted their stronger civic identity (i.e., psychological connection and sense of responsibility to fellow citizens) in 1995, no such effect was observed in 2010. Simultaneously, both associational involvement and volunteering were determined by the economic situation of adolescents' family in 2010, but not in 1995. The most likely reason for the vanishing impact of civic involvement is the advancing professionalization of civil society.

Civic Identity in Emerging Adulthood

“…Furthermore, extant research on CI relies predominantly on a qualitative approach and concentrates on highly engaged youth (e.g., Johnson, 2017). Regarding specific influences on CI development, various authors bring in the importance of civic knowledge (see Rubin, 2007 for a review), civic values, leadership experience (Lott, 2013), volunteering (Šerek, 2017), engagement in discussions and civic activities (Johnson, 2015). These findings offer a valuable insight into the potential developmental trajectories of CI by guiding research and policy planning, but the viability of generalizing to the population is low.…”

Development of Adolescent Moral and Civic Identity Through Community Service: A Qualitative Study in Hong Kong

“…Nonetheless, there is emerging evidence that participation in service does not necessarily lead to the development in civic identity (Mann & Casebeer, 2016). When adolescents are engaged in social organizations with a strong professionalization culture, the individual development of civic identity may not be supported (Serek, 2016). Empirical research that adopted Marcia's identity status model reported that an individual's participation in service activities had a negative relationship with identity diffusion but a positive association with identity achievement (Hardy, Pratt, Pancer, Olsen, & Lawford, 2011).…”