Abstract

Raising democratic and civic attitudes with youngsters receives more and more attention. Evidence for a strong connection between participation and democratic attitudes has been found in earlier research. In this study, concerning the in and out of school participation of adolescents, we find a similar positive relation. Nevertheless, we see that young people do not participate equally in associations outside school. But when they do get the opportunity to participate in school, the barriers to participation are smaller. Furthermore we can conclude that participation has a cumulative character: students who join activities at school, are more often involved in associational life. Participation at school, although it should be open to all students, reaches only a specific number and kind of pupils. Students in technical and vocational schools have less opportunities to participate. Therefore, we have to question somewhat the assumptions about the democratic strength of schools.

How to Cite:

De Groof, S. & Siongers, J., (1999) “Schoolse en niet-schoolse participatie bij jongeren: het profiel en de houdingen van participerende jongeren”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 20(3-4), 471–499. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86484