Civic Engagement and Civic Motivation in Ten European Countries: an Intergenerational Comparison

This study is dedicated to Ronald Inglehart’s theory of intergenerational change. Experiencing a transformation in the middle 1979s, “unconventional forms of civic engagement” became the most common activities in modern democracies especially among younger generation. According to the theory, this transformation in engagement was caused by a great change from materialist to postmaterialist values. At the same time, support for different social issues that concerns people also has changed. The focus from traditional political and economic issues has smoothly shifted to new challenges - political freedom, gender inequality, minority rights, racial prejudice. In this master’s thesis, we draw from main ideas of the Inglehart’s theory and aim at investigating the impact of values and age group on civic engagement and motivational agenda in ten European countries. The result of analysis suggests, firstly, that people with materialist values as well as members of elder age group less likely to engage in unconventional civic activities, secondly, people with postmaterialist values as well as people of younger generation are more likely to be motivated by postmaterialist agenda.