Political Socialisation

Topic: This section aims to survey the state of the art of political socialization theory and research (going beyond a list of who is doing what). The goal is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the study of political socialization of both the elites and the mass. The analysis includes all the elements of the political socialization study. What constitutes a political socialization study? Where leaves political socialization off and begin other sub-fields such as political culture, political communication, and public information and diplomacy? To what end or ends do political scientists wish to study political socialization? How is ‘influence’ measured? What has been going on in the study of political socialization during the last decade? Are there widely accepted theoretical and empirical generalizations? Do we aspire to a universal political socialization theory? General question: The general section question is: What do we know about political socialization and what is still to be discovered? The key political socialization question is: When, how, and under the influence of who or what do individuals with different socio-demographic/economic backgrounds acquire and maintain or change political behavioral patterns, behavioral intentions, emotions, values, attitudes, preferences, opinions, beliefs/perceptions and knowledge? Major scientific debate: Political socialization research has not offered answers to all fundamental problems. Many ‘old’ problems are still to be discussed theoretically and studied empirically, for example, the early life socialization hypothesis, the persistence hypothesis, and the system stability through socialization hypothesis. New questions arise from political, social, economic and technological developments such as globalization in combination with regionalization, diversification and pluralization at the national level, economic growth and a widening gap between rich and poor, and the rapid growth of political ICT use. These developments pose new challenges to political socialization researchers. Call for papers: Scholars (seniors and juniors) who have recently worked or are currently working on political socialization projects are invited to present findings from their theoretical and empirical projects. Call for discussants. Each paper will be commented by a discussant (before the group discussion). All participants are invited to serve as discussant and to inform the section chair about this willingness and the fields of expertise. Follow-up: There are plans for a new political socialization state of the art book, a standing political socialization research group, and a new cross-national longitudinal political socialization panel study.