What’s the matter with civil society? The declining effect of civic involvement on civic identity among Czech adolescents

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 postcommunism 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

Role of school climate and personality in the development of Czech adolescents’ political self-efficacy

This study examined the effects of school climate (open classroom and positive student relationships) and personality dispositions (shyness and need for cognition) on adolescents' political self-efficacy. Data were collected in 2014 from 1,954 Czech ninth- and tenth-graders (mean age = 15.60). A multilevel analysis showed that school-level political self-efficacy predicted self-efficacy for local politics. However, schools and classrooms were rather homogeneous in terms of students’ mean political self-efficacy and students' self-reported acquisition of civic skills at school. Hence, school characteristics had only limited associations with adolescents' political self-efficacy. At the same time, students' political efficacy had a considerable association with lower shyness and higher need for cognition. These results suggest that the development of political efficacy at school goes beyond simple general influences of school environment and individual differences between students must be considered

Online only: Which Czech young adults prefer online civic participation?

This study examined whether people who prefer online over offline civic participation differ from those who participate in both environments, who prefer offline participation, or do not participate. Using a cross-sectional sample of young adults (age 18-28) recruited in the Czech Republic (N = 720), we compared these four groups (defined by their types of civic participation) regarding their socio-demographic profiles, trust (social, individual, and in the media), relationship to politics (political interest, exposure to politics in the media, and internal political efficacy), and political ideology (left-right orientation, concern with environmental issues, and support for immigrants’ rights). Results showed that people who prefer online participation adhere to conservative political ideologies than people with other types of participation. Their relationship to politics is as positive as in the case of people active in both environments. No substantial differences in trust and socio-demographics were found

When Age Matters: Patterns of Participative and Communicative Practices in the Czech Republic

After a long history, research on the relation between participative and communicative practices was revived in the late 1990s because of the proliferation of new media. New studies have taken into account both online and offline participation and the ability of new media to provide citizens with easier access to information and a broader repertoire of actions. In this article, which is based on a representative survey of the adult Czech population and a survey of Czech adolescents, we address participative and communicative practices as intertwined sets that are typically preferred by certain groups of citizens. As media-related and political practices usually vary due to generational and historical experience, the aim is to discover whether people with similar generational backgrounds and with similar repertoires of action manifest similar sets of commu- nication practices, i.e. similar media ensembles. Hence, we build this study on the assumption that the politi- cal- and media-related agencies are structured by historical experience as well as by biographical experience linked with life-cycle phases. Using cluster analysis, we focus on the various participative and communicative practices employed by three distinct adult generational groups and by contemporary adolescents, all of whom experienced the process of socialization in their own specific historical contexts

Aplikace techniky repertoárové mřížky na zkoumání utváření dojmů o politicích

Tato explorativní studie shrnuje předběžná zjištění, týkající se zkoumání základních dimenzí, kterými lze popsat některé možné způsoby uvažování, využívané jedincem při formování jeho dojmů o politicích. Jakožto výzkumná metoda je v ní použita jedna z modifikací techniky repertoárové mřížky (REP-test). Dosažené výsledky mj. hovoří o významu dimenze populismu a politicko-ideologických dimenzí pro celkový dojem o politikovi, o vztahu mezi vnímáním politikovy upřímnosti a populismu a o vazbě mezi vnímáním politikovy viditelnosti a vůdcovských schopností. Součástí diskuze je rovněž reflexe zkušeností autorů s aplikací techniky repertoárové mřížky na oblast zkoumání dojmů o politicích, přičemž se tato technika v zásadě ukazuje jako přínosná a využitelná v dané oblasti.The explorative study sums up the preliminary findings concerning the research in basic dimensions by means of which it is possible to describe some ways of thinking used by individuals in politicians impression formation. As a research method, one modification of repertory grid technique was used. The findings show the importance of populism dimension and political-ideological dimensions for the complex politician impression. The reflection of autors experience with application of repertory grid technique in the field of politician impression formation research is a part of discussion

Youth in the Kaleidoskope: Civic Participation Types in Estonia and the Czech Republic

This paper presents an exploratory typological analysis of young people (aged 15–30) as political and civic actors in Estonia and the Czech Republic. We compare youth civic engagement patterns in these two East European countries, sharing similar socio-historical contexts, and analyse the sociodemographic and attitudinal profiles of the resulting participation types. The study draws on Estonian and Czech data sets collected from November to December 2016 within the Horizon 2020 project CATCH-EyoU – Constructing AcTive CitizensHip with European Youth: Policies, Practices, Challenges and Solutions. Two independent methods (latent class analysis and cluster analysis) demonstrated shared patterns in the political and civic activities employed by the Estonian and Czech participants, suggesting the existence of four clearly distinguishable types of young citizens. A more detailed analysis revealed that the socio-demographic and attitudinal profiles of active young people, and therefore, the factors of political socialization, differed quite substantially in the two countrie

The Chicken or Egg Question of Adolescents’ Political Involvement : Longitudinal Analysis of the Relation Between Young People’s Political Participation, Political Efficacy, and Interest in Politics

Research on the political behavior of young people often approaches psychological factors such as political efficacy or interest as antecedents of political participation. This study examines whether efficacy and interest are also outcomes of participation and if this effect differs across three types of political participation. Data from a two-wave longitudinal survey of 768 Czech adolescents (aged 14–17 years at Time 1, 54% females) was used. Findings support the proposition that psychological factors are affected by participatory experiences. Cross-lagged models showed longitudinal effects from participation to changes in psychological factors, but not effects in the opposite direction. Protest participation predicted higher interest and internal political efficacy, but lower external political efficacy, volunteering predicted higher external political efficacy, and representational participation had no effects on psychological factors. Overall, our findings point out the formative role of participatory experiences in adolescence and the diverse effects of different types of political participation on political development

Trust in alternative and professional media : The case of the youth news audiences in three European countries

This exploratory paper applying cross-cultural and developmental perspective analyses and discusses trust in alternative media and its relation to trust in professional media, seeking to identify the national specifics of media trust and its developmental patterns. Employing 2016 survey data of Czech, Estonian and Greek youth (aged 14–25, N = 3654) collected as part of the international CATCH-EyoU project (Horizon 2020), the study outlines the typology of media trust, comprising trust in alternative and professional media, and compares social and political predictors influencing media trust in the three countries. The study illustrates the diversity of relations between the two types of media trust, concluding that differences in selected predictors of media trust and the distribution of media trust types across national sub-samples illuminate the strong role national context plays, illustrating the varying pathways development of media trust follows in these varied contexts along socioeconomic and cultural lines

CATCH-EyoU: Processes in Youth's Construction of Active EU Citizenship: Wave 1 Questionnaires: Czech Republic

This dataset was generated within the research project Constructing AcTive CitizensHip with European Youth: Policies, Practices, Challenges and Solutions (CATCH-EyoU) funded by European Union, Horizon 2020 Programme - Grant Agreement No 649538. Work Package 7 of this project aims to test the processes in youth’s construction of active EU citizenship on various social and psychological levels. The main file contains quantitative data from the first wave of the longitudinal survey on adolescents and young adults (age 15-26). Data collection was carried out in the Czech Republic (regions Prague, South Moravian, Moravian-Silesian, Pardubicky, Vysocina) from October to December 2016. The supplementary files contain national translations of the questionnaire for the younger (15-19) and the older (20-26) subgroups

Predicting Online and Offline Civic Participation among Young Czech Roma: The Roles of Resources, Community Perceptions and Social Norms

Roma in the Czech Republic represent a large ethnic minority that faces intolerance and social exclusion. This study aims to describe factors that boost civic participation among Roma adolescents and emerging adults. Specifically, it asks whether different factors apply to Roma and members of the majority, and whether different factors boost offline and online participation. Survey data were analysed from Roma (n = 157) and majority (n = 573) participants between the ages of 15 and 28. Hierarchical regression models suggested that certain factors (a sense of collective influence and peer participatory norm) predict all forms of civic participation, regardless of ethnicity. For Roma youth, in contrast with the majority, offline participation was associated with a perceived lack of opportunities and unmet needs in their communities, which suggests that their offline civic participation might be a reaction to perceived communal problems. Finally, a lack of education was identified as a major explanation for lower rates of online participation among Roma