The process of political socialization, as shown by numerous findings, is characterised as the transmission of political action and behaviour through the generations. In connection with the political changes the Czech Republic experienced since 1945, not only the prospect of generational continuity but also discontinuity come into consideration. The article deals with the influence of parents and other socialization factors on political self-identification in the Czech population. It focuses mainly on the major age groups: young people up to the age of 29, the younger middle generation of 30-44 years, the older middle generation of 45-59 years and individuals aged 60 years or older, and their parents. The starting point of the considerations is the theory of social change and the interconnection of political socialization on the micro and macro levels. The paper analyses the circumstances of socialization and its effects on political orientation in a representative sample of Czech population (N = 522). The basis for determining the impact of socialization was set as the intensity of interest in political events together with the main resources affecting political orientation such as self-education and reading, followed by parental influence. The ratio of father’s and mother’s communist orientation plus their interest in politics accounted for the other socialization factors. Political background of the respondents was compared with their self-identification on the left-right political scale. Correlation analysis helped highlight the significance of father’s influence, rather than mother’s, in the process of political socialization. It also showed an overall negative impact of parental political discussion on the formation of left-right orientation. ANOVA analysis demonstrated a strong relationship between socio-occupational status and political inclusion. This inclusion effect was more frequent among left-wing labourers and pensioners and right-wing entrepreneurs, tradesmen, students and apprentices. Not only social background but also age signalled significant differences in opinions. The youngest generation as a whole relates to the right wing of the political spectrum. At the same time, the generation of 60+ is inclined to the left of the centre. As a matter of fact, this group, more than other age groups, is interested in political events and is deeply involved in political discussions. The young generation manifests itself in both directions. Parents’ political socialization actions towards their children induced agreement with parental political orientation only to a lesser extent. The study also dealt with two influences, sometimes mutually supportive and other times competing, namely parental socialization influence, political and economic conditions. Attitudes to social and political situation differed between age groups. The influence of society- -level circumstances is more significant than that of parental political socialization. It was possible to observe political continuity between the generations of 60+, or even their parents, and the older middle generation aged 45-59. When there is mostly continuity between them and their children then discontinuity tends to arise between them and their parents. The distribution of political orientation reveals a dynamic field. Attitudes to changes in society vary between generations as well. During the shaping of political orientation, the influence of social and political conditions is more decisive than political action, no matter how good its intentions are. This confirms the concept of political socialization as a way in which individual socialization interacts with one’ssocial position due to various social factors.
The aim of the article is to analyze the activities of the social movements, as an important part of current political events. Author is of the opinion that social movements are crucial political tool, which is used by political parties. They allows politicians to ensure a political recruitment, drum up political support and create new political elites within the party. The main questions that need to be indicated are: if social movements are tools used by political parties in order to enhance an influcence on legitimacy of their activities, if social movement are a part of a process of political socialization for their activists, if social movements have an influence on abilities and experience of the group to conduct political activity?
The CDU and CSU parties play a unique role in the political system of Germany, and more and more women from Christian democratic parties perform key political functions in the country. This phenomenon is an inducement to reflect upon the paths of career that lead women to the highest political positions. The main aim of the article is an attempt to answer the question on the influence of the family on the political career of the female leaders from the CDU and CSU parties. The group of persons studied included 53 female party members who in the years 1990-2017 performed leading functions in the two parties, political factions, the Bundestag and the federal government. In the course of the study the following sources, among others, were analyzed: interviews with the leading women politicians, the contents of their memoirs and websites as well as press publications about selected persons.
The text focuses on the efficiencyof school as one of the key agents of political socialization of early childhood students. Using the conceptual framework of J. Astuto and M.D. Ruck, a question is posed of how to effectively develop prosocial skills of children and therefore how to shape their later willingness to engage in civic actions in youth. According to various scholars, prosocial skills, such as respect for others’ feelings, helping, sharing and cooperating with others, have to be nurtured through classroom-based play. Unfortunately, in the age of neoliberal dominance of standardized tests, civic education is deemed less important, with an excessive focus on civic knowledge and the insufficien (not testable) focus on civic skills. In reference to research results (e.g. C. Flanagan and L.S. Gallay), the author of the article points out that democratic competence does not simply emerge as a result of top-down transmission of knowledge. The process of normative (moral) development in childhood knowledge of political facts is significantlyless important than the child’s social experience of civic participation and cooperation. Contrary to the neoliberal tendencies in educational reforms, democracy-learning – as pointed out by numerous studies – should be based on the development of a ‘democratic self’ (values, patterns of behavior, habits), prior to the development of political knowledge. Knowledge should be treated as a second important element of school political socialization of children. The primary focus should be the school’s commitment to the development of children’s democratic attitudes.
The process of political socialization takes place on many levels and depends on various factors, such as family, peer group or school. The basic catalog of them includes the media as well. The main ob[1]jective of the article is to diagnose their role in the process of social adjustment in the area of politics of high school youth from the region of Wielkopolska. The surveys conducted among high school students helped examine a number of factors: sources of knowledge about politics, media formats on the Internet as well as the most important actors playing the role of opinion leaders in the process of political socialization of young people. The study proved that young people display features of media use characteristic of “traditional” mass communication tools (such as television), but also a tendency to use new forms of media, characteristic of “generation Z”. At the same time, significant differences in this respect were observed on the grounds of gender and the declared approach to the religion by young people from Wielkopolska region.
The following text presents various alternative theoretical approaches in political socialization research. Some of the theoretical insights provided by the functional, systemic and interpretative perspectives are identifiedin order to depict the discussion around the continuity and change within the political socialization research. Whereas in the firstperiod of political socialization research the aim was to explain the continuity in the development of political orientations, it was later forced to account for modificationand the potential for change (especially when addressing the interpretative issues of identity politics). After describing the field’stheoretical shifts, the life-course model of political socialization is presented. The life-course model attempts to deal with the problem of continuity and change in the political socialization process, pointing to its remarkable complexity and lifelong flexibility.It offers a systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic way of conceptualizing political socialization. It points to the importance of political socialization research in demonstrating interdependence between objective functions of the political system and subjective political learning of a reflexive individual.
Effective representative democracy requires citizens to be informed and to engage in political discourse. Social media presents new opportunities for students to acquire, share, and comment on civic issues. The purpose of this study was to explore the ways students at one U.S. high school use social media to learn about politics and contribute to civil discourse. A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a cross-sectional survey of 195 U.S. high school students. While the vast majority of students used social media multiple times daily, only 17% of students share political content, and 9% post original political content on social media, due primarily to fear of negative responses. Nearly 15% of students revealed they have additional secret (spam or ‘finsta’) accounts, through which they are more comfortable posting and sharing political content. Findings are limited to a single school U.S. district; however, implications suggest that spam accounts may offer a safer medium for students to engage in political discourse.
W procesie socjalizacji politycznej media wydają się odgrywać coraz istotniejszą rolę. Wynika to nie tylko z dużej ilości czasu spędzanego każdego dnia przed ekranami i innymi nośnikami informacji, ale i coraz większej „intymności” w relacjach z urządzeniami – większość Polaków (ok. 64% w 2017 r. w grupie 15+) posiada smartfon, który daje możliwości bycia online niemalże w każdym momencie życia. Należy założyć, iż w grupie młodzieży szkolnej, odsetek ten jest większy. Skłania to do zadania pytania: na ile dostęp do sieci wpływa na proces socjalizacji politycznej i jakie są jego skutki w obszarze procesów społecznego dostosowania? Celem artykułu jest ich zestawienie i próba zrewidowania założeń teoretycznych dotyczących pojęcia socjalizacji politycznej. Poddajemy w wątpliwość aktualność pewnych założeń ery przedinternetowej w stosunku do współczesnych realiów świata funkcjonującego w trybie permanent-logged-in. Wysuwamy też propozycję kilku rekomendacji mogących stanowić podstawę do bardziej użytecznego społecznie wykorzystania mediów w obszarze dostosowania się (w szczególności młodej) jednostki do życia w warunkach demokracji medialnej.
EN
The media appears to play an increasingly significant role in the process of political socialization. This is the outcome of the large amount of time people spend every day in front of their screens and other sources of information on the one hand, and from the growing ‘intimacy’ of their relations with their devices. A majority of Poles (ca. 64% in 2017 in the 15+ age group) have smartphones, and thus the possibility of being online at practically every moment. This proportion can be assumed to be even higher among schoolchildren. This precipitates a question of the extent to which access to the web influences the process of political socialization, and what impact it has on the processes of social adjustment. This article attempts to compare and review theoretical tenets of the concept of political socialization. The validity of some assumptions made in the pre-internet area is questioned in the face of the contemporary reality of the world operating in permanently-logged-in mode. A handful of recommendations are also put forward for a more socially useful application of the media in the adjustment of the individual (in particular young people) to living in the circumstances of media democracy.
This study explores the creation of identities and values and the social production of citizens in a Type II Schola Europaea institution. My analysis focuses on pupils’ patterns of identification and their system of values as are represented in their language use. In this analysis special attention is paid to students’ expressions of their relationship to the EU (European identity creation) and the values connected to the creation of social and political identities of the pupils. The linguistic investigation is performed by corpus-driven systemic-functional analysis of Transitivity processes and Appraisal. Based on Halliday’s system of transitivity 2 and Martin & White’s appraisal theory 3 the corpus-driven systemic-functional analytic approach is proven to be a highly effective instrument in exposing patterns of identification, values and self-positioning 4.Existing only for a few years, Type II Schola Europaea institutions are the latest development in the “Europeanization” of public education and they represent a new object of study. To date, no research has been conducted in this area from the perspective of applied linguistics, nor has any study focused on the “outcomes” produced by Schola Europaea institutions, such as the ways pupils in these schools express their social and political identities in their communication. Thus, the relevance of this research is that it provides new empirical information about the politics of identity construction, the dissemination of values and the potential of these unique institutions to create “European citizens”.
Artykuł omawia biografię Mariana Jurczyka w kontekście sformułowanej na gruncie badań nad socjalizacją polityczną teorii pierwszeństwa. Autor w pierwszej kolejności analizuje życiorys tytułowej postaci w okresie dzieciństwa i młodości. Następnie omawia działalność związkową i polityczną Jurczyka w okresie, kiedy stał się on postacią publiczną i pełnił szereg ważnych funkcji, m.in. przewodniczącego regionalnej „Solidarności” w Szczecinie, senatora RP oraz prezydenta Szczecina. Wskazuje przy tym na te jej elementy, które świadczyły o tym, w jaki sposób został ukształtowany jako dziecko i młody człowiek w ramach swojej socjalizacji politycznej.
EN
The article discusses the biography of Marian Jurczyk in the context of the „primary principle” formulated on the basis of research on political socialization. The author first analyses the biography of the title character during his childhood and youth. Then he discusses Jurczyk’s trade union and political activities during the period when he became a public figure and performed a number of important functions, including: chairman of the regional „Solidarity” in Szczecin, senator of the Republic of Poland and the president of Szczecin. He points out those of its elements that testified to the way he was shaped as a child and young person as part of his political socialization.
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