Social Structure and Civic Skills

Modernization theories suggest that growing demands by citizens are attributed to long-term processes of human development, especially to structural changes in society associated with increased literacy, education, and cognitive skills. If this account is correct, then it follows that the public living in affluent, post-industrial societies should display the strongest endorsement for democratic values. Moreover alternative cultural arguments, based on Robert Putnam’s influential account of social capital in Italy and the United States, theorizes that trust and confidence in government and broader dimensions of civic engagement have been profoundly affected by weakening social trust and associational networks.

Inglehart suggests that democratic cultures have been profoundly shaped by long-term processes of societal modernization and human development, including the shift from agrarian developing societies to those based on manufacturing industry, and the subsequent rise of post-industrial societies. In particular fundamental democratic values, beliefs, and norms, modernization theories suggest, have been transformed by the growth of knowledge and cognitive skills associated with rising levels of literacy and education. Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel argue that processes of democratization are underpinned by cultures emphasizing social tolerance, inter-personal trust, support for post-materialist and self-actualization values, egalitarian beliefs. Societal modernization has been accompanied, this account emphasizes, by growing demands for a direct voice in decision-making processes, as well as by rising aspiration for democracy and higher expectations for the policy performance of the state. have are more educated, informed and less deferential, developing participatory orientations which challenge traditional sources of hierarchical authority. emand-side theories suggest that growing mass aspirations for democracy, coupled with rising public expectations about the capacity of the state to manage complex social challenges, have contributed towards the democratic deficit.

Social structure and civic skills Cultural explanation emphasizes the social structural developments of rising levels of literacy, numeracy, and formal education which are thought to have altered the skills and capacities of citizens. i The social structure of developing societies and emerging economies has been transformed by the spread of primary schooling, for girls as well as boys, as well as by the expansion of the secondary and tertiary sectors. Cognitive mobilization derived from formal education should facilitate the capacity of citizens to analyze, monitor, and understand debates about public affairs, especially those concerning complex, abstract, and controversial public policies, such as the effects of climate change on global warming, or the impact of macroeconomic policies on economic recovery. Basic literacy, numeracy and cognitive skills derived from schooling make it easier to absorb, organize, and process information derived from the news media, especially printed newspapers and the internet. Formal education also strengthens knowledge of civics, including information about the role of citizens and the structure of government, which Milner argues is essential for informed participation in democratic societies.ii An extensive body of research on the antecedents of political participation, by Verba and colleagues, has long demonstrated that levels of formal education are also closely associated with cultural attitudes such as tolerance and trust, and with political participation, with the more educated displaying greater political interest, knowledge, efficacy and activism in public affairs. iii Verba suggests that the link between education and internal efficacy is particularly important for political participation; formal schooling strengthens confidence in the ability of citizens to affect the public policymaking process. Education also provides important communication and organizational skills, which facilitate engagement in local community associations, voluntary groups and political parties, as well as running for elected office. For all these reasons, this suggests that critical citizens will be found disproportionately among those with higher education and with greater knowledge of civic affairs. i Russell J. Dalton. 2004. Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies. New York: Oxford University Press. ii Henry Milner. 2002. Civic literacy: how informed citizens make democracy work. Hanover: University Press of New England. iii Sidney Verba and Norman Nie. 1972. Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality. New York: Harper & Row; Sidney Verba, Norman Nie, and Jae-on Kim. 1978. Participation and Political Equality: a Seven-Nation Comparison. New York: Cambridge University Press; Sidney Verba, Kay Schlozman, and Henry Brady. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Volunteerism in American Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.