Heterogeneity and the Voluntary Provision of Public Goods

We investigate the effects of heterogeneity, incomplete information and communication on aggregate contributions to a public good using the voluntary contribution mechanism in a nonlinear laboratory environment. One-dimensional heterogeneity (heterogeneity in income or preferences) and two-dimensional heterogeneity (heterogeneity in income and preferences) both increase voluntary contributions. The effect is greatest when information is incomplete in the sense that subjects do not know each other’s payoffs. Incomplete information also reduces contributions in the homogeneous case. Communication reverses the relative importance of oneand two-dimensional heterogeneity in promoting cooperation.

The Democracy Challenge: Young People and Voter Registration

The Democracy Challenge: Young People and Voter Registratio

The Democracy Challenge: Young people and voter registration.

In May 2009, at the height of the MP’s expenses row, the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Brown 2009) talked about the need for “major constitutional reform‟ which included “the case for votes at 16‟. In March 2009 one of his cabinet colleagues, Ed Miliband, (Scottish Labour 2009) went even further In Scotland the rhetoric of British Parliamentarians has been put into practice by the Scottish Parliament. The passing of the Health Boards (Membership and Elections) Bill and the introduction of a new model scheme for Community Councils in April 2009 will mean that 16 and 17 year olds will be able to stand for and vote in elections to these bodies.Whilst this extension of the opportunities young people have to engage with the electoral process should be welcomed, it does present a fundamental challenge. However I would suggest that this challenge also presents an exciting opportunity for community educators. The challenge concerns the wider context of young people’s apparent disengagement from the political process. Specifically, a key prerequisite for young people’s active involvement in this electoral process is their inclusion on the electoral register, yet young people as a group, are amongst the least likely to be on the electoral register or to engage with formal political processes. However this context also presents community educators with increased opportunities and motivation to work with young people so they can fully understand and engage with this extension of the electoral process. Therefore learning for and about democracy should be an increased priority for community educators who work with young people, particularly with 16 and 17 year olds

How did young left wing political activists learn to become active and critical citizens?

This thesis explores the factors that inspired left wing young people to become politically active. In particular it examines their citizenship education experiences. It asserts a critical and maximal conception on citizenship education and offers insights into how it can be improved pedagogically to promote activism for social justice. This thesis draws on and contributes to the literature in three fields: political socialisation; citizenship education; Marxist analysis of education and critical pedagogy. Its central theme focuses on the contradiction evident in the citizenship education literature. Based on the perspective that young people are increasingly disengaged from formal political activity, citizenship education is fundamental in education policy in Scotland. Whilst the Scottish policy context suggest a maximal conception of citizenship education which aims to build young people’s capacity to engage actively and responsibly in political affairs and to encourage thoughtful action to achieve social justice, the evidence shows that the minimal conception is dominant. This produces ‘personally responsible citizens‘ who accept our unjust and unequal status quo, meaning that it is largely unchallenged and reproduced. By working with young activists who were already active, critically conscious citizens committed to social justice, this thesis uncovers the key reasons for their development as activists and highlights the pedagogical approaches that helped this process. It deployed a critical qualitative research approach and conducted 17 individual, in-depth interviews with political activists from the Communist, Labour and trade union movement. A theoretical thematic analysis method was used to analyse this interview data. Growing up in a political family and peer relationships were identified as key political socialising agents. This is consistent with the literature. However, music, which is often ignored in the socialisation literature, was also cited as a key agent. Another significant contributing factor to activism was their sense of political efficacy. This was underpinned by critical agency linked to a firm commitment to social justice. The Scottish Independence referendum and the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party were also identified as ‘critical moments’ that prompted their move to activism. The role of the formal school curriculum was complex. It supported the activism of some of the respondents, but for others it played little part. A few activists could identify taking part in some form of citizenship education. The influential role of the teacher was particularly significant in this context. Interestingly, this was largely restricted to one subject area, Modern Studies. Nevertheless, most of these active and critical citizens struggled to recall undertaking any clearly identifiable citizenship education in school. New knowledge and insights are offered for those interested in promoting a critical and maximal citizenship education that can support activism for social justice, particularly in school settings. The thesis shows that whilst schools do contribute to the reproduction of the current status quo, politically committed educators can also find the spaces in schools to resist this process. By adopting Freirean dialogical approaches to teaching and by providing opportunities for activism through participation in representative structures or community based voluntary opportunities educators can help nurture and inspire the development of young political activists

Standing at the Crossroads – What future for Youth Work?

The collection of papers in this reader straddle a period of significant political change. The first decade of the twentieth century will inevitably be synonymous with the ongoing global economic crisis.  In this opening paper we map out the journey ahead for youth work with a glance back over some key markers of the past decade that have shaped the priorities for contemporary practice. Symbolically, youth work appears to be a crossroads - looking to the past for inspiration in order to make better sense of the current context and ultimately gauge the best way forward. There are choices, albeit limited, about which direction to take. The available routes ahead are significantly shaped by the political and policy imperatives of government. Metaphorically, reliance on a ‘GPS’ to inform the future journey for youth work is likely to be locked into the priorities of the state; subsequently the directions for practice are predetermined. We conclude that the future challenges for youth work practitioners include a need to critically take stock of the ever-changing context in order to assist in taking the best steps forward.    

Introduction

For over 20 years Concept has been engaging critically with theoretical ideas and policy discourses that shape youth work practice. Over that time, the journal has published a diverse range of articles and reviews focussed on aspects of youth work from the perspective of practitioners and academic commentators alike. In 1998 Concept published an edited collection of articles relating to youth work theory and practice entitled Conceptualising Youth Work: Back to the future

Radicalising Citizenship Education

Democracy faces two key threats today. The first is evident in the growth of authoritarian, right-wing, populism which is evident in a number of European countries and beyond. The second has been the un- dermining of democratic life by neoliberalism. Liberal democracy has aided the latter by the separation of economics from politics and the focus on the individual at the expense of the public sector and the common good. At the same time, some of the virtues of liberal democracy – the separation of powers, for example – are threatened by authoritarianism. We argue the importance of a critical engagement with current versions of democracy by drawing on a more participatory and active democratic tradition. This has significant implications for how we view citizenship and citizenship education. The dominant ver- sion of citizenship education in Scotland and the UK (possibly in Europe too) embodies a ‘minimalist’ model of citizenship through a curriculum for taking personal responsibility. This is inadequate for the challenge democracy faces. We argue the need to ground citizenship education in more radical soil, to nurture a critically engaged and active citizenry capable of challenging the democratic threats of right- wing populism and neoliberal subjectivity