Formal education is important in creating enlightened and active citizens. However, despite an increase in education attainment since the 1970s, political engagement has not risen at a commensurate level. This text explores how and why education affects citizenship in these ways.

Figures and Tables 1: Education and Democratic Citizenship in America: Enlightened Political Engagement 2: Enlightened Political Engagement: Characteristics of Democratic Citizenship and Their Relationship to Education 3: What Links Education to Enlightened Political Engagement? Cognitive and Positional Pathways 4: Integrating and Testing the Model 5: Confirming the Enlightenment and Political Engagement Dimensions 6: Reconceptualizing Educational Effects 7: Education and Democratic Citizenship from the 1970's to the 1990's: Defining and Operationalizing the Measures 8: Testing Educational Effects Over Time 9: Absolute and Relative Education in Synchronic Studies: Application to Cross-Sectional Surveys 10: Education and Democratic Citizenship in Other Nations: An Exploratory Comparative Analysis 11: The Future of Education and Democratic Citizenship: Some Implications of Our Findings App. A: 1990 Citizen Participation Study Questions App. B: Weighting Procedures for the 1990 Citizen Participation Study Data Martin Frankel App. C: Basic Model by Race and Gender App. D: Creating the Political Engagement and Enlightenment Scales App. E: Nonrecursive Specifications App. F: Educational Environment and Relative Education Measures Jean G. Jenkins App. G: Documentation of the Over Time Data App. H: Documentation of Unreported Coefficients Bibliography Index