The fact that voter turnout is lower among younger, poorer and minority voters has been known for quite some time. New research from
MSU College of Education associate professor Matthew Diemer and doctoral student Cheng-Hsien Li has uncovered something much more difficult to ascertain – how those voters might become more likely participants in the political process.
Their findings, which fundamentally change our understanding of youth voting behavior, could impact how civics is taught in the classroom as well as other programming.
“Because research suggests that critical consciousness is linked to a variety of positives outcomes,” says Diemer, “I was interested in identifying how peers, parents, and schools might foster critical consciousness.”
What he found was that it was largely discussions with peers and parents – and not the influence of teachers – that fueled political engagement among low-income youth. Diemer suggests that teachers and school districts steering clear issues such as social justice and racism in civics class likely affects their participation in politics.
Diemer became interested in the topic of critical consciousness after his experiences in high school classrooms in Boston.
“I observed youth of color from poor and working class families make surprisingly critical and insightful statements about social inequalities and what this meant for their own lives,” he says.
The study, which was funded by a grant from the Spencer Foundation/National Academy of Education Postdoctoral Fellowship is scheduled to be published in the November/December print edition of the research journal
Child Development.
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