"To Join or Not to Join? Why and How Get Young People in the Czech Republic and Germany Involved in Politics?"
Abstract
The aim of proposed paper is to describe, compare and contextualize impact of primary political socialisation on political activism and organisational membership in the "old" and "new" democracies. Paper examines the role of primary and secondary political socialisation (with special attention paid to civic education in schools) in different societal contexts.
Paper explores the process of political socialisation at the following levels: (a) INTERNATIONAL: comparison of the university students from the Czech Republic and Germany, (b) NATIONAL: differences between the universities from East and West Germany and (c) CENTRUM versus PERIPHERY: Prague university compared with university in Olomouc and in the industrial city of Ostrava. Paper also focuses on reasons of political passivity and explores how the features of political socialization differ between politically active and non-active university students.
Paper introduces the results of 66 in-depth qualitative interviews with politically active and non-active students conducted in the universities in East (Jena), West (Cologne, Mannheim) Germany and in the Czech Republic (Prague, Ostrava, Olomouc). Interviewees were involved in "old" (political parties, trade unions) and "new" (new social movements, NGOs) types of political and civic organizations.