Citizens or subjects? : a study of the political culture of students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College.
Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The youth are a group of particular importance in politics because they represent the future leaders
and voters. To investigate the political culture of students at Howard College a representative
sample of students was drawn, and a questionnaire administered. This questionnaire had two parts.
The first part tested students' knowledge of the political system in South Africa and the second part
measured their attitudes and feelings toward politics and government. The design of the
questionnaire was influenced by the functionalist approach to the study of political systems used by
Almond and Powell (1978). The questions asked were divided into three different categories to
correspond to each level of the political system in the model, which consists of a system, process,
and a policy level. It was found that students at Howard College were under-informed but not
uninformed about the South African political system, despite failing the test that was administered.
In was found that students had a generally negative attitude toward the people in charge of
government, were apathetic toward voting and had low levels of trust in public officials. The
findings of the research were that the youth need some kind of civic education to prepare them for
their future role as citizens. And that more needs to be done to bring the youth into the fold to gain
their support.
Description
M.A. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.
Keywords
University of KwaZulu-Natal -- Politics and government., Comparative government., Students -- Political aspects -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal., Political culture -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- Students., Theses -- Political science.