I have been a member of the Political Science faculty at DePaul University since Autumn 2002. My research fields include American public opinion, civic engagement, generational politics and youth activism. I teach the introductory course for American Government, as well as courses on Congress, the presidency, and political inquiry.
I grew up in a very political household in the suburbs of Washington, DC and learned my first lessons about politics canvassing for my father’s local campaigns. I worked the polls asking people to “vote for my dad” and spent hot, humid summers going to fund raisers and political rallies. As I grew older, I found myself following politics and feeling passionately about issues on the national and international agenda, and I realized I was becoming a bit of a junkie.
I didn’t began by studying political science, however, but instead earned a B.A. in History from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating, I returned home and spent a year working for my member of Congress—just long enough to realize that I preferred school to work. I stayed local, earning first a Masters in Public Policy and then a Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University.
My mentors at Georgetown introduced me to the subfield of political socialization—the study of how we learn about politics, what we learn about politics, from whom we learn such lessons, and long term effects of it all. In my dissertation, I examined socialization from a generational perspective, with an in-depth analysis of my own generation, Generation X. I argued that Xers' political socialization was different enough from that of previous generations to create a cohort that holds distinct conceptions of the political world. This is not so much a generation socialized by big events, as was true for Baby Boomers, but a group that has been shaped by the broader cultural influences in society.
I have maintained an interest in generational politics ever since. In January of 2000, Scott Keeter (of George Mason University), Cliff Zukin (of Rutgers University) and I received a generous grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to study civic engagement in America, with a particular focus on Generation X and their successors, the DotNet generation. With Krista Jenkins (now Dr. Krista Jenkins) as our project manager, we spent two years and a lot of money exploring the ways in which young people are involved in politics, the obstacles to their involvement and the pathways to increasing their participation. This research culminated in a book, A New Engagement? (published in 2006 by Oxford University Press).
On campus I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in a project designed to evaluate and promote the connections that students make been their personal faith and spirituality and their own civic and political engagement. It is a project that allows me to blend my own interests to DePaul’s broader mission.
When I visited DePaul, I knew that I would be happy here because the university has such a strong commitment to two things that I hold dear: challenging their students and connecting with the broader community. My students have kept classroom discussions lively and honest and forced me and to think about topics—especially issues of youth participation in politics—in new and different ways. And is it my hope that my research will be used by politicians, elected officials and practitioners on and off campuses to reach out to young people and help them to get involved in their communities, their nation and the world.
My road to DePaul wasn’t a direct one. After graduating from Georgetown, I worked for almost two years as a research director for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, a Washington, DC based non-profit, non-partisan research organization that studies the public’s attitudes and behavior. Work at Pew taught me skills in polling and analysis and prepared me for work as a poll analyst for NBC in the 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections, which is a very exciting foray into the “real world.”
My husband and I moved to Chicago in September of 1999. I taught at Loyola University for almost two years before starting at DePaul. Mike and I have two daughters (Katherine Grace and Mary Elizabeth) and one son (David Joseph), who bring us unmeasurable joy.
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My current research project focuses on the civic engagement of the post Generation X generation, which my colleagues and I have labeled the DotNet generation. With funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts beginning in January 2001, Cliff Zukin of Rutgers University, Scott Keeter of George Mason and I launched a large scale, multi-method analysis of civic engagement in the United States, with a particular focus on the post Boomer generations. Over the past three years, we have collected a considerable amount of qualitative and quantitative data about the civic and political attitudes and behavior of various age cohorts in America.
Our basic task was to take the civic temperature of the public, with a particular focus on Generations X and DotNet. Xers earned a reputation for being uninvolved in politics-and their turnout at the polls has been so dismal that they still haven't shaken this label. We were curious to know if Xers represented the new normal (Are DotNets equally "apathetic"?) or if Xers were simply part of a downward trend that DotNets have continued, or if there has been a rebounding of sorts, with DotNets becoming the next great generation.
We wanted to start our research by listening, so we began by bringing together groups of "experts" on youth and talking to them about their impressions and experiences. The participants in these all day sessions ranged from typical party leaders (e.g., a representative from College Republicans) to activists working to build union membership to directors of religious youth organizations to professionals who focus on marketing products to youth. We next convened a set of focus groups all across the country where we used the lessons learned our experts to speak to people of all generations (but mostly Xers and DotNets) about what they do in their spare time, their political activities, their civic activities, and their interests.
The next stage in our process was to develop a really good measures of civic and political engagement, so we spent several months on small surveys, testing questions and developing a comprehensive, longer survey which we fielded nationwide in the spring of 2001. Since then, we have conducted several follow up surveys-to test the reliability of our measures, to see if September 11th affected any of our conclusions, and to try to better understand various aspects of our work.
One of our main findings is that people select lots of different avenues to engage in public life, which led to the creation of a typology of engagement. Some people focus on traditional electoral activities like voting, working on campaigns, going to candidate rallies. Others spend their time and energy on their local communities, trying to solve problems in their neighborhood, joining organizations, volunteering and raising money for charities. In addition, large numbers of the public spend some time giving voice to their concerns by contacting elected officials or the news media, attending demonstrations or protests, signing written and electronic petitions, or making purchasing decisions based on political or social reasons (boycotting or boycotting). Not all participation is equal. Most people specialize in either electoral or civic activities (or opt out altogether) but a select number are involved in both arenas-and they are most active in expressing their political voice. Young adults are just as engaged in apolitical civic activities as are older generations, but are less likely to trust others and participate in electoral politics.
View the complete report of our findings on the Pew Charitable Trusts Website
View the PowerPoint Presentation
Currently, Scott Keeter, Cliff Zukin, Krista Jenkins and Michael X. Delli Carpini and I are writing a book based on our study. We have published and presented some of our findings along the way.
Keeter, Scott, Molly W. Andolina, Krista Jenkins and Cliff Zukin. 2003. "Pathways to Participation," in PS: Political Science and Politics v.36, no.2.
A description of the activities of today's youth as well as an analysis of the ways in which their engagement can be spurred.
Andolina, Molly W., Krista Jenkins, Scott Keeter, and Cliff Zukin. 2002. "Searching for the Meaning of Youth Civic Engagement: Notes from the Field," Applied Developmental Science, v.6, no.4.
An overview of our findings from the focus group discussions, with implications for the measurement of youth civic engagement.
Zukin, Cliff, Krista Jenkins, Scott Keeter and Molly W. Andolina. "Test and Retest: Analyzing Survey Research Challenges," for the American Association for Public Opinion Research Annual Meeting, May 2003.
A methodological discussion of the reliability and validity of our measures.
Krista Jenkins, Molly W. Andolina, Scott Keeter and Cliff Zukin. "Is Civic Behavior Political? Exploring the Multidimensional Nature of Political Participation," for Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, April 2003.
A look at the relationship between the civic and electoral aspects of our typology of engagement.
Keeter, Scott, Krista Jenkins, Molly W. Andolina and Cliff Zukin. "Positive Civic Development in Youth," for Child Trends conference, March 2003.
A methodological assessment of our measures, including a discussion of how well such items scale in an index.
Keeter, Scott, Molly Andolina, Krista Jenkins and Cliff Zukin. "Schooling and Civic Engagement in the U.S." Paper presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, September 2002.
An examination of the pathways to civic participation for youth.
Zukin, Cliff, Molly Andolina, Scott Keeter and Krista Jenkins. "Civic Engagement among Generation.Net." Paper presented at the American Association for Public Opinion Research Annual Meeting, May 2002.
An early report on the findings about DotNet.
Keeter, Scott, Cliff Zukin, Molly Andolina and Krista Jenkins. "Improving the Measurement of Political Participation." Paper presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, April 2002.
An early discussion of the challenges and lessons from our survey work. |
