RURAL CITIZENSHIP: DETERMINANTS OF ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP SELF-EFFICACY AMONG TURKISH RURAL RESIDENTS

Abstract

Despite its rare usage in the literature to date, rural citizenship has the potential to serve as a theoretical framework for understanding social behaviors and movements in rural communities. This study investigates the civic self-efficacy level of 531 adult participants living in rural Turkey. The results demonstrate that civic competence reflects the socioeconomic disadvantages of rural regions, including low-level income, gender, education, and undifferentiated economic activities and occupations. Participants had the lowest level of self-efficacy in political literacy (PL) compared to the other two dimensions: community engagement (CE), and demonstrations, protests, and the pursuit of rights (DPPR). Gender difference is the highest determinant of active citizenship self-efficacy, followed by education, time spent in the village, marital status, and monthly income. Findings suggest that interacting with the city appears to be enhancing rural residents’ civic efficacy. These can provide evidence of rural regions exhibiting a unique pattern of citizenship. In the discussion section, we have interpreted the potential implications of the results.