Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-04T22:00:21.425Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pathways to Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Paul Allen Beck  and
M. Kent Jennings
Paul Allen Beck
Affiliation:
Florida State University
M. Kent Jennings
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The premise of this article is that adult participation in politics is affected by strong preadult forces in addition to the contemporaneous factors emphasized by recent studies. To test this premise, data are drawn from the 1965–1973 national socialization panel study of young Americans and their parents. Four causal models depicting pathways to participation among young adults are evaluated; each includes civic orientations as intervening variables. Three of the models assess the direct and indirect effects of parental characteristics—socioeconomic status, political activity, and civic orientations. The fourth model assesses the impact of adolescent involvement in high school activities. Taken individually, each pathway is shown to have an effect on adult participation, with parent socioeconomic status and high school activism having the most impact. When the four pathways are combined in a single model to reflect the connections among them, all remain important. The combined model illustrates the importance of a variety of methods of political learning. The combined model also demonstrates the crucial role of civic orientations in converting preadult experiences into later participation. Civic orientations are the primary carriers of preadult political learning. Overall, the results rebut the critics of socialization research who have questioned the existence of a linkage between early learning and adult political behavior.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , March 1982 , pp. 94 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almond, Gabriel, and Verba, Sidney (1963). The Civic Culture. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.10.1515/9781400874569CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balch, George (1974). “Multiple Indicators in Survey Research: The Concept ‘Sense of Political Efficacy’.” Political Methodology 1: 1–43.Google Scholar
Beck, Paul Allen (1977). “The Role of Agents in Political Socialization.” In Renshon, Stanley Allen (ed.), Handbook of Political Socialization. New York: The Free Press, pp. 115–142.Google Scholar
Beck, Paul Allen, and Jennings, M. Kent (1979). “Political Periods and Political Participation.” American Political Science Review 73: 737–751.10.2307/1955401CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, Peter, and Duncan, Otis D. (1968). The American Occupational Structure. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Clarke, James W., and Kenski, Henry C. (1974). “Communication.” American Political Science Review 68: 722–725.10.1017/S0003055400117526CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, R. W. (1972). “Political Socialization in the American Family: The Evidence Re-Examined.” Public Opinion Quarterly 36: 323–333.10.1086/268014CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Richard E., Prewitt, Kenneth, and Dawson, Karen S. (1977). Political Socialization. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Easton, David, and Dennis, Jack (1967). “The Child's Acquisition of Regime Norms: Political Efficacy.” American Political Science Review 61: 25–38.10.2307/1953873CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehman, Lee H. (1969). “An Analysis of the Relationship of Selected Educational Variables with the Political Socialization of High School Students.” American Educational Research Journal 4: 559–580.10.3102/00028312006004559CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Featherman, David L., and Hauser, Robert M. (1978). Opportunity and Change. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Greenstein, Fred I. (1974). “Communication.” American Political Science Review 68: 720–722.10.1017/S0003055400117514CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, Robert D. and Torney, Judith V. (1967). The Development of Political Attitudes in Children. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Jennings, M. Kent (1980). “Comment on Richard Merelman's ‘Democratic Politics and the Culture of American Education’.” American Political Science Review 74: 333–337.10.2307/1960629CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, M. Kent, Langton, Kenneth P., and Niemi, Richard G. (1974). “Effects of the High School Civics Curriculum.” In Kent Jennings, M. and Niemi, Richard G., The Political Character of Adolescence. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, Chapter 7.Google Scholar
Jennings, M. Kent, and Niemi, Richard G. (1971). “The Division of Political Labor Between Mothers and Fathers.” American Political Science Review 65: 69–82 10.2307/1955044CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, M. Kent, and Niemi, Richard G. (1981). Generations and Politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.10.1515/9781400854264CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keniston, Kenneth (1968). Young Radicals. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin (1960). Political Man. Garden City, N.Y.: Dpubleday.Google Scholar
Marsh, David (1971). “Political Socialization: The Implicit Assumptions Questioned.” British Journal of Political Science 1: 453–465.10.1017/S0007123400009248CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merelman, Richard M. (1980). “Democratic Politics and the Culture of American Education.” American Political Science Review 74: 319–332.10.2307/1960628CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milbrath, Lester W., and Lal Goei, M. (1977). Political Participation. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Nie, Norman H., Powell, Bingham, and Prewitt, Kenneth (1969). “Social Structure and Political Participation.” American Political Science Review 63: 361–378 and 808–832.10.1017/S0003055400262278CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., Newman, David, and Weimer, David L. (1981). “Reassessing the Political Influence of Parents on Children.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Rapoport, Ronald B. (1981). “The Sex Gap in Political Persuading: Where the ‘Structuring Principle’ Works.” American Journal of Political Science 25: 32–48.10.2307/2110911CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. (1960). The Semisovereign People. Hinsdale: Ill.: The Dryden Press.Google Scholar
Searing, Donald, and Schwartz, Joel (1974). “Communication.” American Political Science Review 68: 725–729.10.1017/S0003055400117538CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searing, Donald, Schwartz, Joel J., and Lind, Alden E. (1973). “The Structuring Principle: Political Socialization and Belief Systems.” American Political Science Review 67: 415–432.10.2307/1958774CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searing, Donald, Wright, Gerald, and Rabinowitz, George (1976). “The Primacy Principle: Attitude Change and Political Socialization.” British Journal of Political Science 6: 83–113.10.1017/S0007123400000533CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigel, Roberta, and Hoskins, Marilyn (1981). The Political Involvement of Adolescents. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, and Nie, Norman H. (1972). Participation in America. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Nie, Norman H., and Kim, Jae-on (1978). Participation and Political Equality. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ziblatt, David (1965). “High School Extracurricular Activities and Political Socialization.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 361: 20–31.10.1177/000271626536100103CrossRefGoogle Scholar