Politics Matters: Political Events as Catalysts for Preadult Socialization

Sears, David O.; Valentino, Nicholas A.

doi:10.2307/2952258

Cited by 386 publications

(277 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The teachers' reports, student work, and our observations confirm that the students were passionately engaged in the campaign and aftermath. Learning about politics and social issues during early adolescence is vital because as people move from adolescence to adulthood, their political orientations tend to become more rigid (Osborne, Sears, & Journal of Education & Social Sciences Valentino, 2011;Reichert, 2016a;Sears & Valentino, 1997). Precisely when this crystallization of political orientations occurs is not known; however, our study demonstrates that 13-and 14-year-olds' political ideologies are quite malleable.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 39%

The US Presidential Election of 2016 and the Political Socialization of 8th-Graders

Anderson¹,

Zyhowski²

2017

J.educ.soc.sci

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This mixed-methods study examined the political typologies, perspectives, and presidential preferences of 115 8th-grade students both six weeks before and on Election Day 2016. Data from the Pew Research Center's Political Typology quiz, surveys, coursework, and classroom observations revealed the students political candidate preferences were stable, though their political ideologies were quite malleable, with more than half (55%) of the students' political typologies changing over the six weeks. After the election, most students expressed disdain and fear, yet few were able to express actions they could take to engage in the political process.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 39%

The US Presidential Election of 2016 and the Political Socialization of 8th-Graders

Anderson¹,

Zyhowski²

2017

J.educ.soc.sci

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“…2). As public opinion research has shown, while most citizens tend to form reasonably durable views about the political parties, presidential candidates, and issues involving morality, religion, and race relations, individual differences in attitude strength and stability across issues are prevalent (e.g., Alwin, Cohen, and Newcomb 1991;Converse and Markus 1979;Sears 1983;Sears and Valentino 1997). Correspondingly, the consistency and, hence, clarity of cue giving should vary across individuals and political topics.…”

Section: Family Circumstances Enhancing Parent-child Concordancementioning

confidence: 99%

Politics across Generations: Family Transmission Reexamined

Jennings

Stoker

Bowers

2009

The Journal of Politics

777

657

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We use longitudinal data incorporating three generations of Americans to reevaluate the character and consequences of political socialization within the family. Findings about parental influence based on youth coming of age in the 1990s strongly parallel those based on youth socialized in the 1960s. As expected on the basis of social learning theory, children are more likely to adopt their parents' political orientations if the family is highly politicized and if the parents provide consistent cues over time. The direct transmission model is robust, as it withstands an extensive set of controls. Early acquisition of parental characteristics influences the subsequent nature of adult political development.W riting 40 years ago, Jennings and Niemi (1968) questioned the conventional wisdom about the role of parents in shaping the political character of their children. Working from the perspective of social learning theory and drawing on data collected independently from adolescents and their parents, they demonstrated high variability in the political similarity between parents and their children. Especially when judged against the expectations laid down by reliance on retrospective accounts of parental attributes, the results appeared to downgrade the direct transmission model, wherein parental attributes were passed on, wittingly or unwittingly, to their offspring. These outcomes seemed all the more surprising in view of the considerable overall aggregate congruence between the two generations.Somewhat lost in the (over) generalizations flowing out of this and related research were a number of important qualifications. Transmission rates tended to vary in a systematic fashion according to type of political trait. The more concrete, affect-laden, and central the object in question, the more successful was the transmission. More abstract, ephemeral, and historically conditioned attributes were much less successfully passed on. Salience of the political object for the parents was an important conditioner of successful reproduction, as was perceptual accuracy on the part of the child (Acock and Bengston 1980;Percheron and Jennings 1981;Tedin 1980;Westholm 1999). The presence of politically homogeneous parents, and other agents allied with the parents, enhanced the fidelity of transmission (Jennings and Niemi 1974, chap. 6;Tedin 1980). Contextual properties such as larger opinion climates (Jennings and Niemi 1974, 81-82, 161-62) and party systems (Westholm and Niemi 1992) also affected within-family consonance. These specifications and qualifications also lent support to social learning theory explanations of how children come to resemble their parents more in some respects than others. Although not in the tradition of the transmission model, but fully compatible with social learning theory, other inquiries have revealed the importance of communication patterns within the family in shaping the political make-up of the child (e.g., Tims 1986; Valentino and Sears 1998).In this paper we return to the topic of intergener...

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“…According to the first approach, political attitudes and behaviours are acquired during early socialization and are resistant to change later in life (Easter et al, 2006;Sears and Funk, 1999;Sears and Valentino, 1997). Consequently, immigrants encounter many difficulties in adapting their political behaviour to the host society because they were socialized in a different context.…”

Section: Review Of Literature and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigrants’ membership in civic associations: Why are some immigrants more active than others?

Voicu

Rusu

2012

International Sociology

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This study focuses on the level of membership in associations of the migrant population in Spain. Three types of civic engagement are considered: participation in all types of civic associations, in associations for immigrants and in non-immigrant associations. The article investigates whether immigrants coming from countries with higher levels of civic participation are more likely to participate in civic associations and if immigrants who have lived longer in and stayed in closer contact with a home country with a higher level of civic participation are more likely to join civic associations. Data used come from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey (2007) and the World Values Survey (2000, 2005). The results of multilevel logistic regressions show that immigrants who have spent more time in a more participatory context at origin and who are in closer contact with these societies are more likely to get involved in civic associations at destination.

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Politics Matters: Political Events as Catalysts for Preadult Socialization

Cited by 386 publications

References 44 publications

The US Presidential Election of 2016 and the Political Socialization of 8th-Graders

The US Presidential Election of 2016 and the Political Socialization of 8th-Graders

Politics across Generations: Family Transmission Reexamined

Immigrants’ membership in civic associations: Why are some immigrants more active than others?

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