How an Advocacy NGO Can Contribute to Political Socialization: A Case Study in Hong Kong

Abstract

This article is based on a case study done on a Hong Kong advocacy non-government organization (NGO) that has worked as a civic educator. Civic education programmes of the NGO were observed. In-depth interviews were carried out with the personnel of the NGO. The participants in the programmes were also interviewed and questionnaires were conducted to study the impact of the programmes. This article discusses the changing nature of political socialization and explores, with the help of the case study in Hong Kong, how an advocacy NGO may contribute to political socialization by serving as a civic educator. It is hoped that this work can contribute to the literature about the possible role of advocacy NGOs in political socialization, particularly in augmenting other social institutions that are also active in this realm, such as schools and churches.

References

Abom

(2004) Social Capital, NGOs, and Development: A Guatemalan case study, Development in Practice, 14(3), 342–353.

Austin

Pinkleton

(2001) The Role of Parental Mediation in the Political Socialization Process, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 45(2), 221–240. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1207/s15506878jobem4502_2

Carlehen

(2006) Towards Democratic Foundations: A Habermasian perspective on the politics of education, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(5), 521–543. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/00220270600628229

Child

(1954) Socialization, in Lindzey

(Ed.) Handbook of Social Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Council of Europe (n.d.) Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/edc/Default_en.asp

Cross

Young

(2008) Factors Influencing the Decision of the Young Politically Engaged to Join a Political Party: An investigation of the Canadian case, Party Politics, 14(3), 345–369. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/1354068807088126

de Tocqueville

([1835] 1981) De la Democratie en Amerique. Paris: Garnier-Flammarion.

Edwards

(2000) NGOs, Social Change and the Transformation of Human Relationships: A 21st-century civic agenda, Third World Quarterly, 21(4), 605–626. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/713701069

Fairbrother

G.P.

(2003) Toward critical patriotism. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press.

10.

Finkel

(2003) Can Democracy Be Taught? Journal of Democracy, 14(4), 137–151. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1353/jod.2003.0073

11.

Flanagan

Gallay

(1995) Reframing the Meaning of Political in Research with Adolescents, Perspectives on Political Science, 24(1), 34–41. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/10457097.1995.9941863

12.

Flanagan

Bowes

Jonsson

Csapo

Sheblanova

(1998) Ties that Bind: Correlates of adolescents' civic commitments in seven countries, Journal of Social Issues, 54(3), 457–475. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01230.x

13.

Flanagan

C.A.

Sherrod

L.R.

(1998) Youth Political Development: An introduction, Journal of Social Issues, 54(3), 447–456. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01229.x

14.

Glaser

Strauss

(1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory. New York: Aldine Gruyter.

15.

Greenstein

F.I.

(1968) Socialization: Political socialization, in Sills

(Ed.) International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. New York: Macmillan.

16.

Hatcher

J.A.

Bringle

R.G.

(1997) Reflection – bridging the gap between service and learning, College Teaching, 45(4), 153–158. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/87567559709596221

17.

Hooghe

(2004) Political Socialization and the Future of Politics, Acta Politica, 39, 331–341. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1057/palgrave.ap.5500082

18.

Inglehart

(1990) Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

19.

Lacey

Ilcan

(2006) Voluntary Labor, Responsible Citizenship, and International NGOs, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 47(1), 34–53.

20.

Leung

Y.W.

(2003) Citizenship Education through Service Learning: From charity to social justice, Educational Journal, 31(1), 95–117.

21.

Leung

Y.W.

(2006) How Do They Become Socially/Politically Active? Case Studies of Hong Kong Secondary Students' Political Socialization, Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 2(2), 51–67.

22.

Leung

Y.W.

S.W.

(2004) Back to Square One: The ‘re-depoliticizing’ of civic education in Hong Kong, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 24(1), 43–60. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/1080/0218879040240105

23.

Leung

Y.W.

Yuen

W.W.

(2009) Participatory Citizenship and Student Empowerment: Case study of a Hong Kong school, Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 5(1), 18–34.

24.

Lewis

Froman

Jr. (1961) Personality and Political Socialization, Journal of Politics, 23(2), 341–352.

25.

McDevitt

(2005) The Artisan Child: Developmental provocation as a model of political socialization, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18(1), 67–88.

26.

McFairland

Thomas

(2006) Bowling Young: How youth voluntary associations influence adult political participation, American Sociological Review, 2006(71), 401–425. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/000312240607100303

27.

Mercier

(2002) NGOs, Civil Society and Democratization: A critical review of the literature, Progress in Development Studies, 2(1), 5–22. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1191/1464993402ps027ra

28.

Nevitte

(1996) The Decline of Deference: Canadian value change in cross-national perspective. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.

29.

Niemi

R.G.

Sobieszek

(1977) Political Socialization, Annual Review of Sociology, 3, 209–233. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1146/annurev.so.03.080177.001233

30.

Perliger

Canetti-Nisim

Padahzur

(2006) Democratic Attitudes among High-school Pupils: The role played by perceptions of class climate, School Effectiveness and Social Improvement, 17(1), 119–140. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/09243450500405217

31.

Putnam

Leonardi

Nanetti

(1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic tradition in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

32.

Ribak

(1997) Socialization as and through Conversation: Political discourse in Israeli families, Comparative Education Review, 41(1), 71–96. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1086/447416

33.

Roker

Player

Coleman

(1999) Young People's Voluntary and Campaigning Activities as Sources of Political Education, Oxford Review of Education, 25(1&2), 185–198. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/030549899104206

34.

Rosenthal

Feiring

Lewis

(1998) Political Volunteering from Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Patterns and predictors, Journal of Social Issues, 54(3), 477–493. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01231.x

35.

Torney-Purta

(1995) Psychological Theory as a Basis for Political Socialization Research, Perspectives on Political Science, 24(1), 23–33. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/10457097.1995.9941862

36.

Tse

K.C.

(1997) The Poverty of Political Education in Hong Kong Secondary Schools. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies.

37.

Ventura

(2001) Family Political Socialization in Multiparty Systems, Comparative Political Studies, 34(6), 666–691. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/0010414001034006004

38.

Warleign

(2001) Europeanizing Civil Society: NGOs as agents of political socialization, Journal of Common Market Studies, 39(4), 619–639. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/1468-5965.00324

39.

Yates

Younis

(1998) Community Service and Political Identity Development in Adolescence, Journal of Social Issues, 54(3), 495–512. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01232.x

40.

Yuen

W.W.T.

(2009) Implementing Political Education as a School Subject: A case study of teachers' pedagogical decisions in post-1997 Hong Kong, Romanian Journal of Pedagogy, 7(12), 182–187.

41.

Yuen

W.W.T.

Leung

Y.W.

(2010) Engaging Students in School Governance: A case study of the challenges and the way forward, International Studies in Educational Administration, 38(3), 57–79.