Political Socialization and Citizenship Education for Queer Youth Open Access

Abstract

Although issues of political socialization, education for citizenship, and adolescent sexuality are of great importance in the current era, there has been little empirical research on the intersection of these three phenomena. In this qualitative case study, I examined the youth and adult conceptions of education for citizenship in a community center for queer youth. I drew on political socialization theory to guide my study. Employing document analysis, youth and adult interviews, and community center observations, I investigated: 1) how the youth and adults understood citizenship, belonging, and political participation; 2) the nature of teaching and learning at the center; and 3) the youths' political trust, efficacy, and interest development.

I found a range of understandings about citizenship, belonging, and political participation, both among the participants and within individuals. All participants articulated the lack of full rights afforded to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people living in the United States. Most of the youth participants identified themselves as citizens of more than one entity, citing allegiances to local, state, national, and global communities. Adults engaged in implicit and explicit attempts to teach the youth about citizenship and political issues, and the youth drew connections between their activities at the center and their own political trust, efficacy, and interest.

These findings may help teachers, guidance counselors, administrators, teacher educators, curriculum developers, community-based organization leaders, parents, and youth understand more about how youth are educated for citizenship and socialized politically.

Running Head: QUEER YOUTH
Political Socialization and Citizenship Education for Queer Youth
By
Jillian Carter Ford
B.A., University of Virginia, 2001
M.A.T., University of Virginia, 2001
Advisor:
Carole L. Hahn, Ed.D.
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the
James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in Educational Studies
2011

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Statement of the Problem...1

Social Studies, Citizenship, and LGBTQIQ Youth...3
Background...6

Supreme Court Precedent...7
Human Rights...8
Citizenship Education...10
Democracy and Civil Society...13

Theoretical Framework...14
Purpose Statement and Significance...16
Research Questions...17
Definition of Terms...18
Summary...21

Chapter 2: Literature Review...23

Youth Political Socialization and Identity Development...23
Sexualities within the Social Studies...33
LGBTQIQ Youth Experiences in U.S. Public Schools...37
LGBTQIQ Youth Experiences with Bullying...44
Youth Civic Engagement in Community Organizations...47
LGBTQIQ Youths' Agents of Socialization and Civic Development...52
Summary...54

Chapter 3: Methodology...56

Setting...57
Participants...58
Data Sources and Collection...59
Data Analysis...63
Reciprocity...68
Summary...68

Chapter 4: Findings...69

The FLAME Community Center...69
Youth Participants...71
Youth Memories of High School Civics Course...72
Understandings of Citizenship at FLAME...74
Civic Teaching and Learning at FLAME...89
Youth Political Attitudes at FLAME...99
Emergent Themes...109

Chapter 5: Discussion...116

Findings as Related to Previous Literature...119
Human Rights: A Viable Anchor for Institutionalized Respect?...126
Citizenship Understandings as Status, Practice, and Feeling...128
Political Socialization Theory...129
Electoral Politics vs. Social Justice Activism...131
Institutional Erasure upon Achieving "Equality"...132
Contemporary Reflections of Historical Ideals...134
Suspended Democracy in Troubled Times...135
Sustaining Political Efficacy in the Face of Power...136
Limitations...138
Implications for Future Research and Practice...138

References...142

About this Dissertation

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Educational Studies
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Education, General Education, Social Sciences Education, Secondary
Keyword	citizenship education political socialization social studies education community education queer youth out-of-school contexts
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Hahn, Carole L, Emory University
Committee Members	Maparyan, Layli, Georgia State University Cadray Jr., Joseph, Emory University Winn, Maisha T, Emory University

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