What I really want to discover in my research for this paper is the driving force that pushes these politically engaged students toward either Classical Liberalism, calling for further privatization and overall smaller governmental intrusion in the personal lives of citizens, or Modern Liberalism, calling for increased government instituted economic safety blankets and increased regulations to rein in detrimental corporate interests. I'm not so interested in which side is "right." At the end of the day, both sides are attempting to combat the same crises. Both sides also tend to be, what is deemed by older generations, "socially liberal", agreeing on issues such as gay marriage and drug decriminalization. But what is it that causes such a drastic divergence in the approach to solve political and economic issues? Is it as simple as being individualistic or more civic minded? Do demographics make a difference? Is it their parents or their upbringing that causes them to go one way or the other? Are there correlations with particular majors? I think it would be interesting to interview two students, one who identifies as a Progressive Liberal and one who identifies as a Libertarian, as primary sources for my research.
I don't think I have ever had anyone write about students and politics before, though it is clearly a great topic. But I would suggest not making up your mind too quickly about what form the topic should take. Instead, I think you should begin by doing some research into what is known and what has been written about college students and politics generally and see what that inspires. For one thing, while I think you are right that students are more likely than most citizens to entertain libertarian or socialist views, they are also probably more likely than most to be apathetic or disengaged from politics generally. After all, college students as a whole notoriously vote in low numbers relative to other demographic groups (which could be caused by a number of practical things, too, such as often not living where they are registered as voters).
ReplyDeleteI did a little googling just now and came across an interesting study of College Students and Politics -- albeit from 2006:
http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP46LongoMeyer.pdf
It was the first thing that popped up. What interested me most in this study was that the authors found that students were likely to see politics in what I would call very "privatized" ways. As the report describes it: "most college students believe that politics is not about solving problems; rather, the report found that students saw politics as individualistic, divisive, negative, and often counterproductive to acting on the ills of society."
For college students, politics is personal not public. And that maps very closely to the movement toward less public engagement generally, in keeping with the overall rise of "privatization" as an ideological formation.
For example: One matter that should be leading to political engagement is the rising tuitions and the problem of student debt. And there have certainly been some student protests and student activism generally over these issues in recent years -- especially in California (which has seen the biggest tuition rises). Yet I don't think we have seen as much student political activism or protest as there has been at other times in history (think Berkeley in the 60s). Every "student protest" I have witnessed on our campus, for instance, typically has more students on stage than in the audience. So here we have an issue that is most meaningful for students -- something that hits them right in the wallet -- but we don't see much activism. And that might be because they just see politics as not the place to get things done -- as just a personal preference.
Just some thoughts. So I would say that you should keep an open mind about the topic as you begin your research. Let the topic emerge from what you find. Don't let your own interests focus your search too soon.
Thank you for the tips. I will really, really try not to make assumptions before much more research!
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