Abstract
In the 1960s the study of political socialisation blossomed into an important subdiscipline within the political science profession. Thanks to his synopsis of the pertinent literature, which was published in 1959 under the title Political Socialization Herbert Hyman is invariably credited with triggering off this research boom.2 After ten years of flourishing field work Fred Greenstein, probably the most prolific and sophisticated political scientist engaged in this subdiscipline, could still describe the research in political socialisation as a growth stock.3 His quantitative measure was the number of American Political Science Association members who in 1968 listed political socialisation as one of their professional interests.4 Furthermore as the 1960s progressed so the number of political socialisation publications increased.5 On the basis of these kinds of quantitative measures this interest has not abated, and in 1973 Dennis felt that the foundations of political socialisation research were so secure that the future could be devoted to filling in ‘the gaps in present empirical knowledge’ and to crystallising ‘current new developments’.6
This chapter derives some of its ideas from our paper entitled, ‘An Obituary to Political Socialization’, presented to the Political Studies Association Conference, Nottingham, 1976.
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Notes and References
H. Hyman, Political Socialization (The Free Press, 1959 ).
F. Greenstein, ‘A Note on the Ambiguity of “Political Socialization”: Definitions, Criticisms, and Strategies of Inquiry’, Journal of Politics, vol. 32 (1970) pp. 969–70.
J. Dennis, ‘Future Work on Political Socialization’, in J. Dennis (ed.), Socialization to Politics, ed. J. Dennis (John Wiley and Sons, 1973 ) pp. 493–4.
For a biting critique of this view of man and society see D. Wrong, ‘The Oversocialized Conception of Man in Modern Sociology’, American Sociological Review, vol. 26 (1961) pp. 183–93.
G. A. Almond, ‘A Functional Approach to Comparative Politics’, in The Politics of Developing Areas, eds G. Almond and J. Coleman (Princeton University Press, 1960 ) pp. 3–64;
and D. Easton, ‘An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems’, World Politics, vol. 9 (1957) pp. 383–400.
and D. Easton, A Framework for Political Analysis (Prentice-Hall, 1965) pp. 124–5.
F. Greenstein, Children and Politics (Yale University Press, 1969) pp. 45–6.
The most impressive sample is that which forms the basis of both Easton and Dennis’s and Hess and Torney’s works. See R. D. Hess and J. V. Torney, The Development of Political Attitudes in Children (Aldine, 1967 ) pp. 226–32, 248–53;
and D. Easton and J. Dennis, Children in the Political System (McGraw-Hill, 1969 ) pp. 420–25.
H. HymanPolitical Socialization (The Free Press, 1969) p. vii.
D. Easton and R. Hess, ‘The Child’s Political World’, Midwest Journal of Political Science, vol. 6 (1962) p. 235.
D. Easton, ‘The Function of Formal Education in a Political System’, The School Review, vol. 65 (1957) p. 311.
For examples of the acceptance of the systems framework see: F. Greenstein, Children and Politics, pp. 10–15; B. Massialas, Education and the Political System (Addison-Wesley, 1969 );
and F. Wirt and M. Kirst, The Political Web of American Schools (Little Brown, 1972 ).
For an attack on the use of this approach see, S. S. Wolin, ‘Politics, Education and Theory’, in State, School and Politics, ed. M. Kirst (D. C. Heath, 1972) ch. 1.
For a restrained recognition of this bias see J. Dennis, ‘Major Problems of Political Socialization Research’, Midwest Journal of Political Science, vol. 12 (1968) pp. 105–8.
E. Litt, The Public Vocational University: Knowledge and Public Power (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969) ch. 8;
R. Merelman, Political Socialization and Educational Climates: A Study of Two School Districts (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971) ch. 8; and Massialas, Education and the Political System, ch. 3.
For a discussion of this point see T. Tapper, Political Education and Stability (John Wiley and Sons, 1976) pp. 51–3.
For an example of such reluctance see, F. Greenstein, ‘The Case of the Reluctant Consultant: On Moving from What We Know to What We Ought to Do’, The School Review, vol. 77 (1969) pp. 41–53.
For the ineffectiveness of the civics curriculum see: K. Langton and M. Kent Jennings, ‘Formal Environment: The School’, in Langton, Political Socialization (Oxford University Press, 1969 ) pp. 84–119;
and G. Mercer, Political Education and Socialization to Democratic Norms, University of Strathclyde, Survey Research Centre, Occasional Paper No. 11 (1973).
E. Litt, ‘Civic Education, Community Norms and Political Indoctrination’, American Sociological Review, vol. 28 (1963) pp. 69–75.
D. Jaros and B. Canon, ‘Transmitting Basic Political Values: The Role of the Educational System’, The School Review, vol. 77 (1969) p. 95.
For the most explicit claim that this was the end product of the American political socialisation process, see Hess and Torney, Political Attitudes in Children, pp. 217–9. The studies of subcultural political learning processes have undermined this convenient view of the socialisation process.
D. Easton and J. Dennis, ‘The Child’s Image of Government’, The Annals, vol. 36 (1965) p. 41.
F. Greenstein et al., ‘Queen and Prime Minister: The Child’s Eye View’, New Society, no. 369 (1969) p. 638. An interpretation he scarcely modifies in an extended and more recent version;
see F. Greenstein et al., ‘The Child’s Conception of the Queen and Prime minister’, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 4 (1974) pp. 285–7.
J. Dennis et al., ‘Support for Nation and Government among English Children’, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 1 (1971) pp. 45–8.
This article stimulated some reaction: see I. Budge, ‘Support for Nation and Government among English Children: A Comment’, British Jdurnal of Political Science, vol. 1 (1972) pp. 389–92;
H. Birch, ‘Children’s Attitudes and British Politics’, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 1 (1972) pp. 519–20;
and D. Kavanagh, ‘Allegiance among English Children: A Dissent’, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 2 (1972) pp. 127–31.
For a different perspective on Dennis’ article, see Tapper, Political Education and Stability, pp. 121–3.
C. Merriam, The Making of Citizens: A Comparative Study of the Making of Citizens (Chicago University Press, 1931). This volume is Merriam’s overview of an eight-nation study of civics training undertaken under his overall supervision in the 1920s.
N. Masters et al., State Politics and the Public Schools (Alfred Knopf, 1964) pp. 3–7.
T. Parsons, ‘The School Class as a Social System: Some of its Functions in American Society’, in Education, Economy and Society, eds A. H. Halsey et al. (The Free Press, 1961 ) pp. 439–41.
E. Greenberg, ‘The Political Socialization of Black Children’, Political Socialization, ed. E. Greenberg (Atherton Press, 1970 ) pp. 178–90;
and S. Lyons, ‘The Political Socialization of Ghetto Children: Efficacy and Cynicism’, Journal of Politics, vol. 32 (1970) pp. 297–305.
T. H. Marshall, ‘Citizenship and Social Class’, in T. H. Marshall, Sociology at the Crossroads and Other Essays (Heinemann, 1963) ch. 4.
For the best empirical evidence see, P. Abramson, ‘The Differential Political Socialization of English Secondary School Students’, Sociology of Education vol. 40 (1967) pp. 246–69; and Tapper, Young People and Society chs 5–9.
W. G. Runciman, Sociology in its Place (Cambridge University Press, 1970 ) pp. 110–11.
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© 1978 Ted Tapper and Brian Salter
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Tapper, T., Salter, B. (1978). From Political Socialisation to Political Education. In: Education and the Political Order. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15873-7_2
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