CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Human rights violations, electoral malpractices, poverty, and poor standard of living are rife in Nigeria, where democracy is still emerging (Aluaigba, 2016). Engagement in civic actions could change the status quo since individual benefits like development of skills, self-esteem, and self-development as well as societal benefits like broadened civic activity and contribution to citizenship (Zeldin, Camino, & Calvert, 2003) have been linked to civic engagement. Erlich (2000, p. vi) defined civic engagement as ‘working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference’. Westheimer & Kahne (2004) identified three types of good citizens as personally responsible, participatory, and justice-oriented citizens, and each has unique characteristics. Even though the three are mutually inclusive, there is strong consensus that what is emphasised in states, both democratic and nondemocratic, is personally responsible citizens (see Banks, 2008; Westheimer & Kahne, 2004; Torney-Puta et al., 1999). This is characterised by contributions to the community’s welfare and strictly abiding to conventional rules such as voting. Participatory citizens – characterised by right claiming and focus on actualising state goals through other means such as collective actions that may run contrary to existing laws – are emphasised to a much lesser degree. Yet, despite not being emphasised by most states, it is argued that justice oriented or transformative citizens (characterised by autonomy and critically working collectively to challenge existing unjust structures, including state goals and to create social change, sometimes through measures, such as protests and strikes, contested as rebellious or illegal by some state actors) are necessary for the realisation and sustenance of true and strong democracy (Banks, 2008; Westheimer & Kahne, 2004; Barber, 1989). Civic actions such as protest against human rights violations and electoral malpractices as well as campaign for election of desired political candidates and informed voting are justice oriented in nature. Considering that justice oriented civic engagement activities have been associated with strong democracy and development, we investigated Nigerian citizens’ justice oriented civic engagement (specifically political participation and human rights activism) level and related our findings to existing knowledge on the relationship between sociodemographic factors and civic engagement. The main purpose of the study is to analyse civic engagement levels, towards suggestions for producing more justice-oriented citizens for a stronger democracy and more peaceful society. Existing literature, as reviewed below, suggest that there is low civic engagement in Nigeria, and so we hypothesise that civic engagement levels among Nigerians is low, with no significant variation within and across sociodemographic groups. We extend knowledge in this field by offering a plausible explanation for low civic engagement among citizens based on Watts et al. (1999) sociopolitical development model, in which the highest stage embodies the characteristics of justice-oriented citizens that are necessary for social reforms. But, since Watts et al.’s (1999) model seems to capture situations where actions for social reforms do not attract further oppressions, we modified the model to suit the realities of most postcolonial weak democracies and authoritarian regimes, with Nigeria as an example. The sociopolitical development theory and its contextualised modification are discussed in the ensuing sections. This study is significant to the field of democracy and citizenship studies as it employs the sociopolitical development theory to explain civic engagement, particularly political participation and human rights activism, in Nigeria. The authors also argue that findings of low civic engagement in Nigeria is explainable by factors beyond psychological (awareness) aspect of sociopolitical development and availability of resources as assumed by sociopolitical development lenses (Watts et al., 1999; Watts & Hipolito-Delgado, 2015).

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The issue of civic education needs to get attention and better handling regarding the importance of the management of learning. Empirical evidence of the weakness of the old pattern in national education control and the roll-out of regional autonomy has encouraged the adjustment—the old pattern of management of future education, which is more nuanced of autonomy and more democratic. Civic disposition as a form of good citizens needs to be instilled in students. Based on the identification of problems and previous research, the formulation of the problem-focused on this research is how the planning of civic education teacher learning management in high schools in civic disposition building.

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study seeks to carry out an examination of the role of social studies education in promoting civic engagement. The objectives of the study are:

1. To determine the relationship between social studies education and civic engagement
2. To determine the issues with social engagement
3. To determine the effect of social studies education on civic engagement
4. To identify the factors affecting social studies education and civic engagement

 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions are:

1. What is the relationship between social studies education and civic engagement?
2. What are the issues with social engagement?
3. What is the effect of social studies education on civic engagement?
4. What are the factors affecting social studies education and civic engagement?

1.5 STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

H0: there is no significant relationship between social studies education and civic engagement

H1: there is significant relationship between social studies education and civic engagement

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1.     The outcome of this research will create awareness to both the general public about an examination of the role of social studies education in promoting civic engagement.

2.     This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of an examination of the role of social studies education in promoting civic engagement, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers on an examination of the role of social studies education in promoting civic engagement

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

SOCIAL STUDIES: social studies is the integrated study of multiple fields of social science and the humanities, including history, culture, geography and political science

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community.