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Political Involvement and the Development of Political Attitudes
Author(s) -
Jarlov Carsten,
Togeby Lise
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9477.1979.tb00210.x
Subject(s) - political socialization , politics , socialization , danish , social psychology , political science , american political science , cognition , psychology , political communication , developmental psychology , law , linguistics , philosophy , neuroscience
Political socialization research so far has focused primarily on the direction of attitudes among children and youngsters. The preconditions for the development of political attitudes among these age groups have been neglected. In theoretical discussions cognitive development has been offered as a major prerequisite. In the article it is posited that political involvement is a second major prerequisite. The effects of political involvement are examined with respect to four aspects of political attitudes among Danish school children: the ability to express attitudes, the correlation between indicators of a particular attitude, the stability of attitudes, and the correlation between different attitudes. Except for the stability of attitudes, results are clear. Political involvement is related to the formation of attitudes. The effect of political involvement is stronger than the effect of any of the traditional socio‐economic variables ordinarily considered in socialization research.