The Role of the Family in Political Learning of Elementary School Students in Taiwan

Issues and Studies

Volumn 37, Issue 4, 2001, Pages 38-68

  Chen, Wen Chun ^a  

^a NATIONAL SUN YAT SEN UNIVERSITY   (Taiwan)

Author keywords

Basic political attitudes; Democratic attitudes; Democratic values; Parent child political attitudes and values; Political learning; Political socialization

Indexed keywords

EID: 0041694066     PISSN: 10132511     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. Herbert H. Hyman, Political Socialization: A Study in the Psychology of Political Behavior (New York: The Free Press, 1959), 51.
2. M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence: The Influence of Families and Schools (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974); M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, Generations and Politics: A Panel Study of Young Adults and Their Parents (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981); and M. Kent Jennings and Gregory B. Markus, "Partisan Orientations over the Long Haul: Results from the Three-Wave Political Socialization Panel Study," American Political Science Review 78, no. 4 (December 1984): 1000-1018.
3. M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence: The Influence of Families and Schools (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974); M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, Generations and Politics: A Panel Study of Young Adults and Their Parents (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981); and M. Kent Jennings and Gregory B. Markus, "Partisan Orientations over the Long Haul: Results from the Three-Wave Political Socialization Panel Study," American Political Science Review 78, no. 4 (December 1984): 1000-1018.
4. M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence: The Influence of Families and Schools (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974); M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, Generations and Politics: A Panel Study of Young Adults and Their Parents (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981); and M. Kent Jennings and Gregory B. Markus, "Partisan Orientations over the Long Haul: Results from the Three-Wave Political Socialization Panel Study," American Political Science Review 78, no. 4 (December 1984): 1000-1018.
5. M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, "Continuity and Change in Political Orientations: A Longitudinal Study of Two Generations." American Political Science Review 69, no. 4 (December 1975): 1316-35; Jennings and Niemi, Generations and Politics, 388.
6. M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, "Continuity and Change in Political Orientations: A Longitudinal Study of Two Generations." American Political Science Review 69, no. 4 (December 1975): 1316-35; Jennings and Niemi, Generations and Politics, 388.
7. Kent L. Tedin, "Assessing Peer and Parent Influence on Adolescent Political Attitudes," American Journal of Political Science 24, no. 1 (February 1980): 152.
8. Christine B. Williams and Daniel Richard Minns, "Agent Credibility and Receptivity Influences on Children's Political Learning," Political Behavior 8, no. 2 (1986): 175-99.
9. N. Hollander, "Adolescents and the War: The Sources of Socialization," Journalism Quarterly 48 (1971): 472-79.
10. Chen Wen-chun and Kou Chen, "Political Socialization and Taiwan's Political Democratization (III): A Study of Elementary School Students' Political Attitudes and Values" (Research project commissioned by the ROC National Science Council, October 1999-July 2000).
11. David Easton and Jack Dennis, Children in the Political System (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969), 95-108.
12. "Taiwanese": People who are living in Taiwan, governed by the Republic of China; "Chinese": People who are living in mainland China, governed by the People's Republic of China; and "Chinese Nationality": People who are ethnically Chinese, but not necessarily living in mainland China.
13. The formula is: 34.07% = (3073*8.5%* 15.8%/3073) + (3073*35.9%*27 0%/3073) + (3073*33.9%*65.9%/3073) + (3073*11.6%*6.2% /3073), and so forth.
14. William Buchanan, "Political Identification," in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. David L. Sills, vol. 7 (New York: Macmillan and the Free Press, 1968), 57.
15. David Easton, "An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems," World Politics 9, no. 3 (April 1957): 391-92.
16. Jennings and Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence, 79.
17. Doh Chull Shin, "On the Third Wave of Democratization: A Synthesis and Evaluation of Recent Theory and Research," World Politics 47, no. 1 (October 1994): 136.
18. Samuel P. Huntington, "Democracy's Third Wave," in The Global Resurgence of Democracy, ed. Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), 3-25.
19. James Chowning Davies, "Political Socialization: From Womb to Childhood" in Handbook of Political Socialization: Theory and Research, ed. Stanley Allen Renshon (New York: The Free Press, 1977), 170.
20. R. Weissberg, "The Politics of Political Competence Education," in Political Education in Flux, ed. Derek Heater and Judith A. Gillespie (London and Beverly Hills Calif.: Sage, 1981), 127-48.
21. Steven H. Chaffee, with Marilyn Jackson-Beeck, Jean Durall, and Donna Wilson, "Mass Communication in Political Socialization," in Renshon, Handbook of Political Socialization, 244.
22. Chen and Kuo, "Political Socialization and Taiwan's Political Democratization," 7-8.
23. However, to say that there is agreement between the political values and attitudes of the parents and children does not necessarily mean that there is a transmission of values and attitudes from parents to children. In this paper, our aim is to indicate the importance of family and parents in children's political learning. We do not neglect the effects of other agents of socialization - such as school, peers, and the mass media. If political attitudes and values were learned attitudes which were not derived instinctively or hereditarily, and the agreement between the parents' and children's political values and the family environment of political socialization have effects on children's political learning, then there may be transmission of values and attitudes from parents to children.
24. Neal E. Cutler, "Generational Approaches to Political Socialization," Youth and Society 8, no. 2 (December 1976): 175-207; Neal E. Cutler, "Political Socialization Research as Generational Analysis: The Cohort Approach Versus the Lineage Approach," in Renshon, Handbook of Political Socialization, 294-326.
25. Neal E. Cutler, "Generational Approaches to Political Socialization," Youth and Society 8, no. 2 (December 1976): 175-207; Neal E. Cutler, "Political Socialization Research as Generational Analysis: The Cohort Approach Versus the Lineage Approach," in Renshon, Handbook of Political Socialization, 294-326.
26. Jennings and Niemi, "Continuity and Change in Political Orientations," 1316-35.