▪ Abstract  The field of political socialization is often stereotyped in terms of some of the earliest work in the field and is neglected outside certain areas of American political behavior. However, the continuing and vibrant stream of work in political socialization holds potential for addressing many critical issues across American, comparative, and international politics. This article discusses three themes: the construction of a more genuinely comparative field of political socialization, a reconsideration of the relevance of childhood to politics following its virtual abandonment by the field for many years, and the importance of understanding the origins of preferences. Cidadania não tem tamanho/Tamanho não é documento. You don't have to be big to be a citizen/Size is not important.           Augusto Sérgio Suares Dutra, a 10-year-old Brazilian,                quoted in Guerra 2002 , p. 77

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Recent years have witnessed an increasing demand by women for political representation of women. This demand points the way toward a number of important problems for political research, many of which remain unsolved primarily because of the segregation of women's studies from the dominant concerns of political science. This discussion focuses on the problem of group interests and representation, drawing on and suggesting further research on public opinion, interest groups, social movements, international politics, political elites, and public policy.

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Despite considerable research, the theory of gender difference in electoral behaviour remains underdeveloped, especially in accounting for variation across elections. We focus on two aspects requiring particular attention: (1) accounts of gender difference, especially distinguishing between positional explanations, in which gender differences stem from men and women taking the same considerations into account, but having different positions on those considerations, or structural explanations, in which gender differences stem from men and women taking different considerations into account in making judgements; (2) the effects of electoral context in cuing gender as a consideration, thus stimulating or inhibiting the appearance of gender differences. We use a case study of the 1992 US presidential election, often labelled 'The Year of the Woman', to explore these problems.A perennial question in the study of gender politics is whether there are gender differences in mass level political thinking or action during elections. The appearance of the 'gender gap' during 1980s US elections stimulated considerable research and analysis. 1 Despite voluminous and voluble scholarly and journalistic debate, the theory of gender difference in electoral behaviour remains underdeveloped, especially in its ability to account for variation across elections, not to mention cross-nationally. Two aspects require particular attention: accounts of the nature of gender difference, and the impact of electoral context on electoral judgements. We use a case study of the 1992 presidential election to explore these problems.