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If you were to drop into the Boston Center for Youth and Families Grove Hall Senior Center in Dorchester on a Tuesday afternoon, you would find a hall full of [...]

This article examines the influence of Internet usage on social capital, civic engagement, interpersonal trust and overall life-contentment; while the use of Internet, television and newspaper among Generation X, Baby Boom and Civic Generation are compared. The authors find that people who use the Internet for information have a positive relation with production of social capital, while people who use the Internet for recreation-social purposes have a low level of civic engagement.

Changes in the family make it difficult to define any typical structure. What is most striking is the role of the child, henceforth the holder of certain recognized rights, within a group whose mutual relations are based on the notion of a contract. In this way, we can talk of a family citizenship, acting as the basis for citizenship in society.

The formative mechanisms and mobilizing arenas of civic opportunity and their efforts to encourage political engagement such as civic education is highlighted. Civic knowledge plays an important role to promote democratic values and political participation as well as to alter one's opinion on specific issues.

Service and activism during youth is associated with life-long civic engagement involving voting, trust in government and involvement in voluntary organization. Educators have called upon school districts to implement programs requiring students to perform service as a pre requisite for graduation, as service fosters a sense of civic identity.

Demonstration of how organizations and schools with families motivate the participation of the young generation, in civic life, is presented. Habits formed at home, lessons learned at school, and opportunities offered by outside groups influence positively the civic engagement of youth.

Less engagement of the younger generation in civic life, and least inclination toward conventional political participation have led to motivation of interest in the developmental roots of civic engagement. Community based organizations and institutes provide pro-social reference groups where youth learn what it means to belong to a community.

The role, status and evolution of civic education and engagement, particularly among American youth preoccupied much of the work of progressives. The conclusion states that better education is a solution to engaging the youth in civic development.

A cross-national examination of patterns of civic and political involvement, developed during the process of political socialization as well as the changes in civic knowledge and attitudes associated with age is described.

Civic education has its roots in a 'traditionalist' educational philosophy that took the pre-social and anti-social nature of the uneducated child in America. Civic education involves creating awareness among the develop mentalist community, which would help in progress of civic lives.

The effect of community service, service learning and volunteering on civic engagement is mentioned. The reason for the weak empirical results relative to civic engagement is that many service and volunteer programs have failed to sufficiently address development of fundamental civic skills as part of their design.

To make a real difference, initiatives for national service and civic participation must not be limited to recent college graduates or retirees who are able to volunteer their time or [...]

Like every social institution, the family is undergoing a process of contractualization. Family democracy is the product of constant negotiation, an interactive process that can be found at every level of society. This is a new social contract, one from which a new citizenship can perhaps be drawn.