Mind the gap! Inequalities in democratic support among adolescents

Inequalities in democratic support are undesirable. When certain groups are less engaged in democracy, their interests will be underrepresented, leading to suboptimal democratic outcomes for these groups. However, large inequalities in democratic support are found, especially based on educational attainment. In order for governments to design and time policy interventions that are aimed at mitigating these inequalities more effectively, it is important to have a better understanding of their origins and the way they develop.
This dissertation therefore studies the origins of inequalities in democratic support among young people. The results show that Dutch adolescents generally support democracy, reject non-democratic alternatives, endorse core democratic values and intend to participate in the political process. It is quite worrisome, however, that the educational gap in democratic support that is observed among adults is already present from a young age, and proves to be quite stable and persistent. The findings in this dissertation show that these inequalities originate at least to some extent in the period before secondary education, and are not easily remedied by (on-site) citizenship education.