Political socialization 2005-2006Leiden Uni, Fac Soc Sci, Dep Pol SciLecture 1 – 08.02.2006

• Aim and outline : course manual

• Active participation : active learning, assignments, workshops

• Today’s lecture : field and questions of political socialization

• Close : discussion on your biography and learning question(s)

• Next time 15.02.2006 : – Lecture 2 on concepts of (political) socialization– bring 1 A4 on your biography and learning question(s)

Field and questions

• Rough definition ofpolitical socialization :

to acquire AND activelyshape political AND civicvalues, norms, opinions.attitudes and routines

Why AND ?

Wuthnow (1991) : (The) essential concern is with the collective, not necessarily in the sense of the entire society, but with the relationship among individuals, between individuals and communities and among communities... Thus the arena of questions about the desirable in social conduct: How shall we live as a people? What do we hold as priorities? To what ends shall we allocate our time, our energy, our collective resources? Where do we locate hope? How do we envision the good?

Field and questions

• Agents and contexts ; Agency and structure– family– social network– school

– workplace– media / corporate industry

– civic organizations– politics– church

Which specific persons / groups /

institutions / objects /events !?

Hannam (2000) : “Learning about democracy and citizenship when I was at school was a bit like reading holiday brochures in prison. Unless you were about to be let our or escape, it was quite frustrating and seemed pointless”

Field and questions

• Agents and contexts ; Agency and structure

Old-style distinction : socializers and socializeesWhy old-style ?What would be a proper new framing ?What are consequences in terms of research questions ?

Field and questions

• ‘Impressionable years’ vs ‘life-long openness’ hypotheses– what is taught in adolescence (15-25 year-old period) persists over the life course (stable cross-time correlations) and influences / structures later acquisition/shaping of values, norms etc.What does this mean for political change ?– change during adulthood is normal and massive; learning does not stop after adulthood; especially because of life course transitions (life cycle changes) people change networks, friends, functions, etc. which in turn change their values, norms, etc.Think of your parents: did they change ? Are they exceptional compared to their contemporaries ?

Free after a French saying : “Who is not left by age 20, has no heart; who is still left by 40, has no head”

Field and questions

Top ten important events for society in the 20th century %1 World War II 772 fall Berlin Wall 153 advancements in ICT 124 first man on the moon 65 other wars/wars in general 56 nuclear energy/arms race 47 World War I 48 abolition apartheid 39 1953 flood disaster 310 television 3(1999; N = 1, 303)

No generational differences in mentions above

Generations and collective memories: Schuman & Scott (1989) for US; Ester, Vinken & Diepstraten (2002) for NL

Field and questions

Reasons World War II (N=986) % who more1 world impact 222 value of freedom 133 shows man is evil 11 <354 ‘Nie Wieder’ 9 <355 world order 9 35-546 lives lost/destruction 87 war experience 6 55+8 reconstruction 69 don’t know/no answer 8 <35

Mentioning the war is not generational, the meaning of it is

Generations and collective memories: Schuman & Scott (1989) for US; Ester, Vinken & Diepstraten (2002) for NL

Field and questions

Reasons fall Berlin Wall (N=194) % who more1 world impact 302 end cold war 21 35-543 value of freedom 194 else 165 don’t know/no answer 9

Mentioning the Wall is not generational, the meaning of it is

Generations and collective memories: Schuman & Scott (1989) for US; Ester, Vinken & Diepstraten (2002) for NL

Field and questions

Reasons advancements in ICT (N=150) % who more

1 world access/global village 432 quality of life/labor 19 55+3 change (vague) 174 else 125 don’t know/no answer 9

Mentioning ICT is not generational, the meaning of it is

Generations and collective memories: Schuman & Scott (1989) for US; Ester, Vinken & Diepstraten (2002) for NL

Field and questions

• Rise, fall, and rejuvenation– end 1950s : Hyman’s learning to be a political being; the search for amorphous / generalized political values, norms etc. in childhood ; psychologists dominate the field– early 1980s : turn away from stability, functionalist, determinative and bourgeois assumptions; critical, constructivist, non-survey oriented political science dominate– mid-late 1990s : life-long learning, civic engagement, new eye for generational, life course and agency impacts; interdisciplinarity and large-scale survey analyses on the rise

Field and questions

• New times, new questions, new variables– increased role of individual to shape own values etc.– increased global trans- and interactions– increased impact of (new) media and logic of consumptionThink of new questions and new variables

Norris (1999) : “Compared with earlier decades, by the end of the century citizens may not be joining the Elks or striking in trade unions or demonstrating about civil rights, any more than they are hulahooping or watching sputnik or going to discos”