The Science of Democratic Citizenship Development

How citizens develop into citizenship determines how they engage in a (democratic) society. While many philosophers, political scientists, sociologists, and human developmental scientists have offered various perspectives on this important topic (e.g. Altundal & Valelly, 2020; Haste & Hogan, 2006; and Oser, Althof, & Higgins-D’ Alessandro, 2008), generally speaking, they can be categorized into two camps of thoughts according to Berkowitz, Althof, and Jones (2008). The first camp urges the development of civic character via civic education, with little emphasis on moral development. The second camp urges the needs of moral development through character education or moral education. Berkowitz et al. (2008) suggest that these two camps of thoughts are complementary to each other. However this is still a controversy. What do you think? Would you like to participate in the scientific exploration of democratic citizenship development by taking a confidential survey ( https://bit.ly/3uCEPrT ) to share your thoughts and experiences? And get paid for helping to advance the science of democratic citizenship development. :) #ImproveCivicEd, #NoYouNoUs

References: Altundal, U., & Valelly, R. (2011). Democratic Citizenship, obo in Political Science. doi: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0013

Berkowitz, M. W., Althof, W., and Jones, S. (2008). Educating for civic character. In the sage handbook of Education for Citizenship and Democracy. Edited by James Arthur, Ian Davies, and Carole Hahn, Sage: Los Angeles.

Haste, H. & Hogan, A. (2006). Beyond conventional civic participation, beyond the mral-political divide: young people and contemporary debates about citizenship. Journal of Moral Education, 35 (4), 473-493.

Oser,F. K., Althof, W., & Higgins-D’Alessandro, A. (2008). The Just Community approach to moral education: System change or individual change? Journal of Moral Education, 37(3), 395–415. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1080/03057240802227551