Researchers hypothesize that social capital in the United States is not just declining, but that it is declining across "generations" or birth cohorts. Testing this proposition, we examine changes in social capital using age-period-cohort intrinsic estimator models. Results from analyses of 1972-2010 General Social Survey data show (1)…

In his book, "Freedom Summer," Doug McAdam demonstrated the long-term impact of young people's participation in a collective movement aimed at rectifying centuries of racial injustice. Coupled with James Fendrich's book, "Ideal Citizens," about black and white college-age participants in desegregating Tallahassee, Florida, the findings outline a…

We use survey data from all accepted applicants to Teach for America 1993-98 to assess the longer-term effect of youth service on participants' current civic attitudes and behaviors. While TFA "graduates" score higher than the two comparison groups--"drop-outs" and "non-matriculants"--on a broad range of attitudinal items measuring civic…