This report is a follow-up to Harriger and McMillan's Speaking of
Politics: Preparing College Students for Democratic Citizenship through
Deliberative Dialogue (Kettering Foundation Press, 2007). That book
described a four-year study at Wake Forest University in which students,
called Democracy Fellows, were exposed to the process of deliberative
dialogue both inside and outside of the classroom.
The focus of this report is an alumni study of the Democracy Fellows 10
years after their graduation. For purposes of comparison, they are
matched with a class cohort that did not participate in the Democracy
Fellows study. The authors describe differences in the ways that the
Democracy Fellows and their classmates understand citizenship. They
found that the Democracy Fellows have a more "complex and nuanced
understanding of citizenship and its responsibilities." Ten years later,
they are more likely to be politically active and express more eagerness
"to engage with people who hold different beliefs." Their classmates'
concepts of citizenship are "more legalistic and less complex than those
of the Democracy Fellows."
The authors of this follow-up study bring together research insights
from the literature on political socialization, political participation,
and deliberative democracy, with a particular focus on whether and how
interventions during the college experience might shape subsequent civic
engagement. Their work demonstrates the enduring impact of learning to
deliberate.
About the Kettering Foundation
The Kettering Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit operating
foundation rooted in the American tradition of cooperative research.
Kettering's primary research question is: What does it take to make
democracy work as it should? Kettering's research is distinctive because
it is conducted from the perspective of citizens and focuses on what
people can do collectively to address problems affecting their lives,
their communities, and their nation. For more information about
Kettering research and publications, see the Kettering Foundation's
website at www.kettering.org.
