Searching for a democratic equalizer: How citizenship education moderates inequalities in internal political efficacy

Inclusiveness is a crucial pillar in every democratic decision-making process. This
pillar rests on the equal political opportunities principle that posits that every cit-
izen should have an equal chance to influence political decisions. This democratic
principle stands, however, in strong contrast to the inequalities among those polit-
ically active. One of political science research’s most stable and reliable findings is
that privileged citizens participate more politically. Especially educational attain-
ment is one of the best predictors of political participation. Scholars traditionally
explain this by differential levels of resources. Due to disparities in resources such
as time, money, and cognitive sophistication, people have different barriers to tak-
ing up their civic rights. Education is traditionally believed to lower these barriers
and increase the knowledge and skills necessary for political action. However,
this reasoning fails to explain why political participation levels, especially among
youngsters, have decreased in the past century while educational levels have risen
drastically. It also fails to explain the persistent gender gap in political ambition
while women outperform their male counterparts academically in high school and
university.
Differential individual resources seem to be only part of the explanation. To un-
derstand how inequalities in political action are reproduced across generations, this
Ph.D. research argues that we must also consider inequalities in the psychological
drivers of political action. Especially one’s internal political efficacy (IPE) is consid-
ered pivotal for political action. IPE refers to individuals’ beliefs and self-confidence
about their abilities to understand and engage with politics. Research shows how
people’s beliefs in their political capabilities mediate future political participation.
Firstly, this Ph.D. research aims to theorize and empirically test how class and
gender inequalities in IPE emerge among Flemish senior high school students and
how these inequalities intersect. Secondly, this research aims to theoretically and
empirically examine citizenship education’s potential as a democratic equalizer for
inequalities in IPE. Lastly, citizenship education as a democratic equalizer is stud-
ied while considering the Flemish-tracked education system, which perpetuates
social class inequalities.
Based on the results of multilevel models estimated on data collected in 2016 to
test the Flemish cross-curricular attainment targets of citizenship education among
senior high school students, the empirical papers of this Ph.D. show significant in-
equalities in IPE due to differential political home environments, educational track,
and gender while controlling for students civic knowledge. Even when students
score similarly on a civic knowledge test, not growing up in a politically stimulat-
ing home environment, going to a lower status track, and being female negatively
affect one’s confidence in a political setting. Furthermore, these inequalities inter-
sect with each other. The research results show how gender inequality in IPE is
the largest in the most politically resourceful environments, which is contradictory
to a traditional resource-based explanation.
The results also conclude that citizenship education has the potential to be
a democratic equalizer for those students not growing up in a politically stimu-
lating home environment. When looking across educational tracks, however, citi-
zenship education’s compensating effect is much more articulated in the academic
track compared to the technical and vocational tracks. Furthermore, students from
technical and vocational tracks report lower access to these citizenship education
opportunities. These students are potentially deprived twice.
Regarding gender inequalities in IPE, an intensification of gender inequalities
in IPE is found due to more citizenship education. This means gender inequality
in IPE increases when students receive more citizenship education, and this is the
most articulated for active types of citizenship education. This Ph.D. pleads for
more critical political socialization, which researches gendered political socialization
processes and contributes to this aim by showing how vital gender role attitudes are
in political socialization processes. Progressive gender role attitudes explain away
the intensification effect of citizenship education. When female students believe
that, for example, both men and females are equally capable of being political
leaders, their IPE levels are higher, but there is also no intensification of gender
inequalities due to citizenship education.
The results of this Ph.D. manuscript show that citizenship education is not only
a potential democratic equalizer to compensate for the lack of politically stimulat-
ing environments but also the potential reproducer and intensifier of persistent
inequalities within a democracy. Hopefully, these results are insightful for scholars
and policymakers aiming to increase the inclusiveness of our political system and
how citizenship does and does not contribute to this democratic goal.