Civic Education in Greek Educational System: Empirical Approach in Schools of Central Macedonia of Greece

Abstract

Politicization is the process by which norms, values and behaviors are learned; Easton and Dennis (1980) refer to "developmental processes by which individuals are socialized politically" (p.7) while Dawsom and Prewitt (1969) refer to “the development process with which the citizen matures politically"(p. 71). Similarly, Rush and Althoff (1971) consider that political socialization as "the process that results in the acquisition of all the politically oriented experiences the individual needs. These experiences are not only political in the narrow sense, but they are relevant because they shape their political behavior "(p. 3). Scholars, however, question the way in which young people acquire these values in schools and elsewhere, as well as whether these values are real values for young people (Gimpel, Lay, & Schuknecht, 2003). What is generally known is that at some point in time a person will be integrated into a given political ideology or value. This view of political socialization overlooks the idiosyncratic personal development of the new man (Dahlgren, 2009). This paper seeks to outline the degree of effectiveness of civic education in Greek public schools. Civic education effectiveness was measured by students' knowledge of eight variables related to issues of everyday politics. The variables concerned pupils' views on the political system in Greece, their knowledge of political system name, their knowledge of the way of election of the president of democracy, the time of each government election, the right to vote, who is President of Democracy and who the Minister of Education. Finally, the students were asked about the political space in which they integrate themselves. In addition, the effect of factors on the above variables was also examined, such as urbanity, gender and grade. The results of the survey include the fact that there is statistically significant difference between genders and the political space in which they integrate themselves. Also, the political space influences the performance grade, given the fact that students who belong to anarchist space have the lowest grade in the previous school year. Our analysis of political socialization is based on the assumption that next to a rational choice utilitarian process, which guides us in matters of party preference and voting behavior, lays a less-than-rational cognitive process of moral decisions, which is based on definite notions of good and evil. This analysis allowed us to capture visually these discourses in the form of “semantic maps.”

Keywords

• Civic education,Politicization

References

1. Almond, G. (1970). Political Development, Boston: Little Brown. Bosma, A. & Kunnen, S. (2001). Determinants and mechanisms in ego identity development: A review and synthesis. Developmental Review, 21, 39-66. Calavita, M. (2005). Apprehending Politics. Albany: State University of New York Press. Chadjipadelis, T (2015) Parties, candidates, issues: the effect of crisis. Correspondence Analysis and Related Methods. Napoli – Italy Colby, A., Beaumont, E., Ehrlich, T. & Corngold, J. (2007). Educating for Democracy: Preparing Undergraduates for Responsible Political Engagement, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Conover, P. (1991). Political Socialization: Where’s the Politics? In Political Science: Looking to the Future: Volume III, Political Behavior, edited by William Crotty, 125–152. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. Dahlgren, P. (2009). Media and Political Engagement: Citizens, Communication and Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dawson, R. E. & Prewitt, Κ. (1969). Political Socialization. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Demertzis & Stayrakakis, 2008. Νεολαία: Ο αστάθμητος παράγοντας; Αθήνα. Πολύτροπον (in greek) Easton, D, & Dennis, J. (1969). Children in the Political System. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Easton, D. & Dennis, J. (1980). Children in the political system: origins of political legitimacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Gimpel, J., Lay, J. C., & Schuknecht, J. E. (2003). Cultivating Democracy: Civic environments and political socialization in America. The Brookings Institution: Washington, DC. Gotovos, A. (1996). Νεολαία και κοινωνική μεταβολή. Αθήνα: Gutenberg (in greek). Gotovos, A. (2004). Εκπαίδευση και ετερότητα: Ζητήματα διαπολιτισμικής παιδαγωγικής. Μεταίχμιο (in greek). Greenacre, M.J. (2007) Correspondence Analysis in Practice (Second Edition). Chapman & Hall/CRC, London. Greenstein, F. (1968). Political Socializations. Στο Sills, D. (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, New York: Macmillan and Free Press. Hahn, C. L. (1998). Becoming Political. Albany: State University of New York Press. Hart, D. & Fegley, S. (1995). Prosocial behavior and caring in adolescence: Relations to self-understanding and social judgment, Child Development, 66, 1347-1359. Harwood, R. & Creighton, J. (1993). College students talk politics, Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation. Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture Shift. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Kelpanides, M. (2012). Κοινωνιολογία της εκπαίδευσης: Θεωρίες και Πραγματικότητα. Ελληνικά Γράμματα (in greek). Langton, K. (1973). Political socialization, New York: Oxford University Press. Marshall, T. (1998). Citizenship and Social Class: And Other Essays. Cambridge: University Press. Meeus, W., & Dekovic, M. (1995). Identity development, parental and peer support in adolescence: Results of a national Dutch survey. Adolescence, 30, 931-944. Metaxas, A. (1976). Πολιτική κοινωνικοποίηση. Αθήνα: Σάκκουλας (in greek) Milner, H. (2002). Civic Literacy: How Informed Citizens Make Democracy Work. University Press of New England. Mussen, P. & Warren, A. (1970) Personality and Political Participation. Στο Sigel, R. (ed.) Learning about Politics: a reader in political socialization, New York, Random House, 277-293. Papadimitriou, I and Florou, G. (1996) “Συμβολή της ευκλείδειας και X2 μετρικής στον προσδιορισμό της ιδανικότερης ταξινόμησης κατ' αύξουσα ιεραρχία”, Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας Επιστημονική Επετηρίδα Τιμητικός τόμος καθηγητή κ. Ι. Λιάκη, Θεσσαλονίκη, (in greek). Patrick, J. (1977). Political Socialization and Political Education in Schools. Στο Renshon, S. (Ed.) Handbook of Political Socialization: Theory and Research, New York, Free Pres. Rathus, S. A. (2011). Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. Rush, M. & Althoff, P. (1971). An Introduction to Political Sociology. London: Nelson. Sigel, R. (1989). (ed) Political Learning in Adulthood. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Youniss, J. (1980). Parents and peers in social development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.