At what ages are young people most open to political influence? We test the "formative years" model that underscores the importance of childhood experiences for political development against the "impressionable years" model that asserts the primacy of lessons learned during adolescence. To assess the relative merits of these…

The idea of one shared past, can develop identity-building potential. Nevertheless, there are diverse memory practices in plural societies and they are an expression of shared, divided, and conflicting memories. The negotiations of (diverse) past(s) and memories and, consequently, related belonging(s) to so-called 'remembrance communities' take…

This study explores the integration of military themes and Nazi ideology within the "Mathematisches Arbeits- Und Lehrbuch" textbook series, which was a prominent tool in Nazi Germany for embedding National Socialist principles in mathematics education. Authored by Otto Zoll, a Nazi Party member, these textbooks were strategically…

This article is based on an analysis of the treatment of the European Union in a sample of textbooks from Germany and England. Following contextual remarks about civic education (politische Bildung) in Germany and citizenship education in England and a review of young people's views, we demonstrate that textbooks in Germany and in England largely…

Recent political socialisation research focuses almost exclusively on the orientations of adolescents, even though the literature seems to agree on the assumption that politically relevant orientations and attitudes are acquired much earlier in the life span. This article argues that it is essential to look at the beginning of socialisation if we…

More and more programs of citizenship education in Germany (and other countries) tend to advance democratic citizenship through social learning in communities. A strong emphasis is put on social engagement to get young people involved in politics as well as to teach them participation. A qualitative analysis of selected German social learning…