University students' perception of citizenship in the context of traditionalism and modernity (The case of Gümüşhane University)

This study was designed with the relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, with the objective of determining the perception of citizenship of university students in the context of traditionalism and modernity (Gümüşhane University Sample). The research group was determined using the "easily available sampling" method. The study population comprised students enrolled in courses at Gümüşhane University during the spring semester of 2022-2023. The participants were requested to complete the demographic information form, the Active Citizenship Self-Efficacy Scale and the Traditionalism-Modernity scales, which had been developed by the researcher. The study revealed significant differences in all sub-dimensions of the traditional and modernity scale according to gender (p<0.05). In the sub-dimensions of active citizenship self-efficacy, it was determined that male participants received higher scores than female participants in the political literacy sub-dimension, with significant differences (p<0.05). In the comparison of traditional and modernity according to gender and duration of social media use, no significant differences were found in the sub-dimensions of traditional and modernity with the duration of social media use in women (p>0.05), while a significant difference was found in the sub-dimensions of individual independence and disconnection from the local in male participants (p<0.05). While the sub-dimensions of the scales were found to be related to one another, no significant relationship was calculated between the sub-dimensions of both scales. As a result, it has been concluded that young men who are university students are more modern than women, and as the age of university students increases, there is a decrease in the levels of future orientation and individual independence. It was concluded that the secularism, individual independence and detachment from the locality scores of those living in the village for most of their lives were higher than those living in the city and district. It was determined that the participants with modern characteristics defined themselves as traditional and those with traditional characteristics defined themselves as modern. It is observed that the level of participation decreases as the duration of social media use increases among male students. Keywords: Traditionalism, Modernity, University students, Citizenship.