Re: Psychology of Civic Engagement

Hi,

What a great topic for a course!  I look forward to reading your
syllabus.  I'm a PhD student doing work in this area and I think it's
great fun! (Please pardon my youthful exuberance;-))

You're likely already be familiar with these, but a few suggestions for
material include Clary, Snyder, et al.'s Functional Approach to
Motivation which deals with the psychological functions that volunteering
serves for people.  Clary, et al.'s 1998 article in JPSP is helpful.
Omoto and Snyder's 1995 JPSP article on AIDS volunteers is a good example
of this theory in practice.

The research on mandatory service is interesting too!  I love that people
get so riled up about this and that there currently isn't one dominant
opinion in the service community - I would think that would make it a
fun topic for your course to look at.  Stukas's 1999 Psychological Science
article that Eric Hartman mentioned is a good place to start.

I've recently done some research on this topic.  (I'll admit that at the
outset my bias was pretty much against mandated service-learning).
However, what I found with 2,000 middle school students in MD & VA was
that the actual mandates didn't have an affect on either students'
intentions to continue helping behaviors or their attitudes toward school
service-learning requirements.

Reflecting on Michel Wakeland's message, I did find, however, that higher
quality service-learning experiences led to more positive attitudes toward
required service-learning and behavioral intentions than lower quality
experiences (not surprising, in retrospect).  A few other interesting
findings as well on the importance of students' perceptions of having
opportunities for self-determination, gender differences, etc.

I have two reports on my research available at the Corporation for
National and Community Service Website.  The references mentioned above
and others on these topics are included.  The address is:

http://www.cns.gov/jobs/fellowships/2000-01.html#covitt

Good luck with your course!
Best,
Beth
******************************************
Beth Covitt
PhD Candidate
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan
430 E. University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
bcovitt@umich.edu
******************************************


On Wed, 10 Jul 2002, Michel Wakeland wrote:

> Not to be combative, but as many of us know, the material on this is
> ambiguous at best.  At Millikin University, we require service-learning
> in freshman and senior courses, and find that it has a positive effect
> both on future intent and behavior.  The material with which I'm
> familiar would seem to indicate that the closer the experience is to
> volunteering, the less effect it has on encouraging future civic
> involvement in this way, but the better the experience models
> service-learning, the greater effect it has in encouraging future civic
> work.
>
>
> Michel Wakeland
> Director, Center for Service Learning
> Millikin University
> 1184 West Main
> Decatur, IL  62522-2084
> mwakeland@mail.millikin.edu
> (217) 362-6461
>
> "Every time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve  the lot
> of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny
> ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers
> of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down
> the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
>
>                                                   Robert F. Kennedy
>
> >>> "Eric Hartman" <erihartman@hotmail.com> 07/10/02 08:19AM >>>
>
> Hi Deb,
> I'm looking forward to seeing the syllabus, it looks like it will be an
> interesting course. The effort to develop civic engagement and civic
> values through service-learning/ civics courses, etc., is an area that
> I've found interesting. Particularly interesting/controversial are
> studies such as that by Stukas, A. (I believe 2000), which suggests that
> REQUIRED service programs may actually serve to turn students away from
> civic engagement. I would be happy to forward a list of references and
> other information in this area if that would be helpful. (I just don't
> have it with me at the moment). Please let me know if you would like
> that reference list. Best of luck,
> Eric Hartman
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Eric Hartman
> Adjunct Faculty, Community College of Allegheny County
> www.ccac.edu
> Service-Learning Consultant, PA Service-Learning Alliance
> www.pitt.edu/~psla
>
> "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.  The important
> thing is not to stop questioning."
> -Albert Einstein
>
> >From: Deb Mashek
> >To: sl@csf.colorado.edu
> >Subject: Psychology of Civic Engagement
> >Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2002 20:24:15 -0400 (EDT)
> >
> >
> >Dear Colleagues,
> >
> >I'm preparing to teach an undergraduate course entitled "The Psychology
> of
> >Civic Engagement." Im hoping to cover such content as (1) barriers to
> >involvement, (2) identifying needs in the community, (3) building
> >relationships between community and volunteers, (4) building
> relationships
> >between volunteers and service recipients (i.e., the individuals who
> the
> >volunteers interact with), (5) issues of burnout, (6) initiating and
> >maintaining involvement, (7) costs of engagement, and (8) benefits of
> >engagement.
> >
> >I thought those of you on this list might willing to discuss the merit
> of
> >these topics. In addition, I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions for
> >additional topics and/or overall course structure. I'm also in the
> >process of collecting suggestions for source material (e.g., research
> >articles, theory papers, reflective essays, experiential reports,
> books).
> >
> >I will post a summary of responses to the list (I will also post my
> >syllabus once its prepared!).
> >
> >Thanks for sharing your ideas!
> >
> >Best wishes,
> >
> >Deb
> >
> >Debra Mashek, Ph.D.
> >Department of Psychology
> >SUNY Stony Brook
> >Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500
> >Phone: 631.632.9601
> >Fax: 631.632.7876
>
>
>
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