School determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees'

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorMattes, Roberten_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGodinho, Catrina Lauraen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-26T13:35:44Z
dc.date.available2017-01-26T13:35:44Z
dc.date.issued2016en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIn this dissertation, I use the 2012 Cape Area Study - a survey of 2,518 Grade 11 students at 45 schools in the Cape Town metropolitan area - to explore school determinants of political engagement and participation among South Africa's first post-apartheid generation, the 'born frees'. I ask whether schools have had an impact on 'born free' students' civic engagement and the likelihood that they will participate in legal and illegal political activity, as well as voting in elections. Despite the legacies of the racially defined apartheid system, the current African National Congress (ANC) government's failure to deliver on their promise of equal, quality and democratic education for all, and the enduring crisis in basic education, I find that the school can have a positive influence on political engagement and attitudes toward political participation. In this regard, the school characteristics that have the greatest influence are: the frequency with which politics is discussed across classes, the level of participation in school governance and other organisations, and extent to which the school environment is fair and caring. In addition, the school contributes to the development of internal efficacy and a procedural (rather than instrumental) understanding of democracy, both of which positively impact political engagement and attitudes toward political participation. Socio-economic status and race have a relatively small impact, which is reassuring given South Africa's history and the persistently high level of socio-economic inequality. Intriguingly, where socioeconomic status and race are significant, it is the wealthier and previously advantaged groups who are less likely to be politically engaged and to have participative attitudes toward political activities, with the exception of voting.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationGodinho, C. L. (2016). <i>School determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees'</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23402en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationGodinho, Catrina Laura. <i>"School determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees'."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23402en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationGodinho, C. 2016. School determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees'. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Godinho, Catrina Laura AB - In this dissertation, I use the 2012 Cape Area Study - a survey of 2,518 Grade 11 students at 45 schools in the Cape Town metropolitan area - to explore school determinants of political engagement and participation among South Africa's first post-apartheid generation, the 'born frees'. I ask whether schools have had an impact on 'born free' students' civic engagement and the likelihood that they will participate in legal and illegal political activity, as well as voting in elections. Despite the legacies of the racially defined apartheid system, the current African National Congress (ANC) government's failure to deliver on their promise of equal, quality and democratic education for all, and the enduring crisis in basic education, I find that the school can have a positive influence on political engagement and attitudes toward political participation. In this regard, the school characteristics that have the greatest influence are: the frequency with which politics is discussed across classes, the level of participation in school governance and other organisations, and extent to which the school environment is fair and caring. In addition, the school contributes to the development of internal efficacy and a procedural (rather than instrumental) understanding of democracy, both of which positively impact political engagement and attitudes toward political participation. Socio-economic status and race have a relatively small impact, which is reassuring given South Africa's history and the persistently high level of socio-economic inequality. Intriguingly, where socioeconomic status and race are significant, it is the wealthier and previously advantaged groups who are less likely to be politically engaged and to have participative attitudes toward political activities, with the exception of voting. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - School determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees' TI - School determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees' UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23402 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/23402
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationGodinho CL. School determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees'. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23402en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Political Studiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherPolitical Scienceen_ZA
dc.titleSchool determinants of political engagement and participation among South African 'Born Frees'en_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMSocScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2016_godinho_catrina_laura.pdf
Size:
636.01 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters