Political Socialization & The Role of the Media The media reinforces values instilled by other socialization agents. The media opposes those value systems.

Current Youth Participation Voter turnout for Americans ages averages 17 percent less than that of other Americans. The future of the democratic process is at stake.

McLeod’s Theory OLD ASSUMPTION: Political Ideas (from parents, school, media) to passive recipients (youth). NEW ASSUMPTION: Children are active agents of their own political development.

Political Socialization Agents * Civic Curriculum in School * Parental Influence *Mass Media *Youth

MYTH #1 “Children acquire civic orientations through modeling and direct attitude inculcation.” Faults: Assumes children will always adopt their parents’ political opinions and fails to account for significant media influence.

MYTH #2 “Political influence flows downward only – from societal institutions to children.” Faults: Also assumes children will always adopt their parents’ political opinions and puts sole responsibility for political socialization on family.

MYTH #3 “Adults may be agents in political socialization but themselves are unlikely to change.” Faults: Assumes that exchanges between children and other agents are one-sided and do not result in changes in family dynamic.

MYTH #4 “Socialization to politics should be conceptualized and measured as individual behavior.” Fault: Fails to recognize political socialization as a series of socialization events precipitated by a number of agents.

The Media Chain Youth exposure to mass media leads to political discussions. Political discussions lead to increased media consumption by parents. Increased media consumption leads to political knowledge.

Meadowcroft’s Family Communication Patterns SOCIO-ORIENTED Goal: Harmonious Family Tendencies: Children refrain from challenging adults and do not develop own political opinions. CONCEPT-ORIENTED Goal: Family Participation Tendencies: Children are encouraged to challenge ideas and develop own political opinions.

The Educator’s Role Civic curriculum leads to interest in political process. Interest leads to increased news consumption. Political knowledge leads to participation in democracy.

News Consumption by Politically-Aware Parents & Children Newspapers Television Internet (The Future)

Youth Bring Politics Home Parents get a “second chance at citizenship.” McDevitt & Chaffee

Kaiser Family Foundation Children’s Media Use Study One in four children 8 & older spends five hours a day viewing TV. These children spend an average 40 hours per week viewing TV. Sixty-five percent have a TV in their rooms.

The Prairie Village Project “American Government for Children” “American Citizenship” “The History of American Gov’t” “Federal, State & Local Gov’t” “The History of the Presidency” “The Three Branches of Gov’t” “What is Government?” What does citizenship mean? What rights do citizens have? What responsibilities do citizens have?

The Future of Political Information “Children’s Express” – Britian “SchoolNet Global” – International News “Kids Post” – The Washington Post Many other websites provide news aimed at children and youth.

The Research Gap Interest in children’s programming Policy & production issues VS. Research on media effects Media effects & developmental processes

Potential Benefits Effective Media Informed Youth Informed Adults Increased Participation A Stronger Democracy

Thank You for Your Attention Political socialization is not the most exciting segment of media study… but all of our futures – and that of our political system – may well depend on it.