Developing and sustaining active citizenship: A life history analysis of the representatives and organizers of Japanese nonprofit civic activities.
This study looks at the life experiences and learning processes of Japanese active citizens who have been continuously committed to various areas of civic activities. By exploring the perceptions of 19 Japanese active citizens in Kanagawa prefecture, this qualitative, life history study answers what influenced the Japanese active citizens to become active, what makes them stay committed to their civic activism, and what they learn through these activities. Becoming active is highly individualized and non-linear process. This study found that active citizenship is gradually developed and learned in one's life through family, community, schools, and social events/contexts that dynamically interact between individual self and societal environments. In terms of the continuance of active citizenship, it was found that the respondents have multi-layered and multi-faceted reasons for their commitment. Their action is the reflection of among others their deep-seated values, beliefs, identities, grieves, and rational arguments which they want to realize through their action. Individually, they felt that overlooking injustice as a moral offense in that they felt a responsibility to correct it. Their moral motives are explained by Dewey and Rorty's moral theory of self-realization. The active citizens also used a variety of learning opportunities and activities in creative ways. Their learning of knowledge and skills reflect their vision of change. It also has a practical base that is close to Rorty's concept of pragmatic knowledge serving as a means to deal with environments and creating a more democratic society. Learning through civic activism also involved deep learning, the learning that is close to Piaget's concept of accommodative learning or even Mezirow's transformative learning.