Research on civic education points out that there is no “one best way” for schools and teachers to contribute to democratic citizenship. There are however differences in the contributions of educational systems according to the social divides in each country. The current paper focuses on the impact of social inequality on the contributions to citizenship education. Inequality can be conceived based on ‘objective’ social-economic indicators (such as income or resources of the parental environment), as well as by the perceived inequality by youngsters themselves.
The social-psychologist Keith Payne documented the impact of subjective perceptions of status differences on behavior and attitudes. The lower rungs on the subjective status ladder entail bad decisions but also resentment. In the current context status differences lead to a deep divide in civic attitudes and attitudes towards democratic citizenship. The increase in status difference leads to a ladder with broken rungs in which the ‘high status citizens’ live in different political worlds from the ‘low status citizens’.
The current paper tests the ‘Broken ladder’-hypothesis on the civic competencies of adolescents in Flanders. Using the Flemish ICCS-2009 data of Grade 10 students (n=1814; age 15,5 years), we assess the role of subjective perceptions of lower status on future political participation and political self-concept. For this purpose, we test the effect of school-based civic education (i.e., civic activities at the school) on these civic outcomes, according to feelings low subjective social status. The individual experience of status differences is indeed empirically associated with different citizenship education outcomes.