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Children and the Political Community: A Comparison across Racial Lines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Edward S. Greenberg
Edward S. Greenberg
Affiliation:
Stanford University
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Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , December 1969 , pp. 471 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1969

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References

* I should like to thank Alex George and Heinz Eulau for their comments on this paper. I fear that possible errors of omission or commission are due to my not following their advice more closely.

1 In brief, I sampled 922 children in Philadelphia, approximately evenly divided between the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth grades. The sample was also divided as equally as possible between black and white children and the middle and lower classes. Data were collected by use of questionnaires administered in the classroom by interviewers of the same race as the children.

I have felt confident in advancing tentative generalizations to the universe of urban areas because in terms of racial composition, employment patterns, government, population, etc., Philadelphia is rather typical of northern urban centres. Of course, to be perfectly accurate, no city can serve as an archtypical unit of analysis. In an effort to add depth to the analysis of political socialization, this study has been and will continue to be replicated in other urban centres. Data from Pittsburgh, for instance, are presently in the process of analysis.

2 Diffuse support is defined as an attachment to a political object for its own sake, irrespective (in the short run) of rewards; an unconditional attachment. For a discussion of this concept see David Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life (New York, 1965), chap. 17.

3 Ibid., for a discussion of these concepts. Also see Easton's “An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems,” World Politics, IX (April 1957), 383–400, and A Framework for Political Analysis (Englewood Cliffs, 1965).

4 An interest in the question of stability neither presupposes nor implies any particular ideological stance. Concern with the scholarly exploration of the question of stability does not lead logically to the value judgment that stability is a desired goal. Indeed, I am of the persuasion, given the present intolerable conditions in American race relations, that stability as a primary goal is misdirected both morally and pragmatically. I am personally quite friendly to the view taken by Lewis Killian and Charles Grigg in their Racial Crisis in America (Englewood Cliffs, 1964), that progress in race relations will come only through social conflict.This footnote is very consciously included. I take the position that no investigator is a neutral, value-free observer, but rather brings a set of built-in biases with him. To the extent that this is true, it is important for the scholar to examine his own positions as well as he can, and set them out for the reader. We all have biases. Failure to inform the reader of such biases does not eliminate them—it hides them. For a stimulating discussion of this “responsibility” of the political scientist, see William Connolly, Political Science and Ideology (New York, 1967), especially 139–46.

5 An excellent review of this literature can be found in the “Introduction” and in chap. 1 of Deutsch, Karl, Nationalism and Social Communication (Cambridge, Mass., 1966).Google Scholar

6 For some representative definitions see Friedrich, Karl, Man and His Government (New York, 1963), 137Google Scholar; Snyder, Louis L., The Meaning of Nationalism (New Brunswick, NJ, 1954), 32; Bruce Russett, Community and Contention (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), 27; and Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication, chap. 4, “Peoples, Nations and Communication.”Google Scholar

7 “The Learning of Integrative Habits,” in Philip E. Jacob and James V. Toscano, eds.The Integration of Political Communities (Philadelphia, 1964), 271.

8 Man and His Government, 94.

9 Maclver, Robert M., The Web of Government (Glencoe, 1965), 4.Google Scholar

10 Lasswell, Harold, Lerner, Daniel, Pool, Ithiel De Sola, The Comparative Study of Symbols (Palo Alto, 1951), 1.Google Scholar

11 The Political Community (Chicago, 1948), ix.

12 Lasswell et al., The Comparative Study of Symbols, 12.

13 Richard Merelman, in “Learning and Legitimacy,” The American Political Science Review, LV (1966), 548–61, uses a learning theory framework to describe a process whereby condensation symbols evolve and become internalized. Condensation symbols are defined by Murray Edelman as those symbols which “condense into one symbolic event, sign or act patriotic pride, anxieties, remembrances of past glories or humiliations, and promises of future greatness.” The Symbolic Uses of Politics (Chicago, 1967), 6.

14 See especially Teune, “The Learning of Integrative Habits,” and Merelman, “Learning and Legitimacy,” for stimulating applications of learning theory to the questions of legitimacy and sense of community.

15 See the 1966 edition of Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication, 1–28.

16 Easton, D. and Hess, R., “The Child's Political World,” Midwest Journal of Political Science, VI (1962), 229–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17 (Chicago, 1967).

18 Ibid., 213.

19 Horowitz, Eugene L., “Some Aspects of the Development of Patriotism in Children,” Sociometry, III (Oct. 1940), 329–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A later replication was conducted by Lawson, Edwin, “The Development of Patriotism in Children: A Second Look,” Journal of Psychology, LV (April 1963), 279–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Lawson found that contemporary American children tend to gain attachments rapidly, at a very early age, corresponding quite closely to the Easton-Hess analysis.

20 Adelson, Joseph and O'neil, Robert P., “The Growth of Political Ideas in Adolescence: the Sense of Community,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4 (1966), 295–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

21 For a good summary of Piaget's work, see Flavell, John, Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget (Princeton, 1965).Google Scholar

22 Piaget, Jean and Weil, A. M., “The Development in Children of the Idea of the Homeland and of Relations with Other Countries,” International Social Science Bulletin, 3 (1951), 561.Google Scholar

23 Ibid.

24 It is important to note that other scholars have added evidence to support the centre-periphery movement of community cognitions and sentiment. See especially Jahoda, G., “The Development of Children's Ideas about Country and Nationality,” parts I and II, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 33 (1963), 47–60 and 143–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Doob, Leonard, Patriotism and Nationalism (New Haven, 1964).Google Scholar

25 Ibid., 34. A very stimulating empirical analysis of the development of political community in colonial America using the symbol “America” can be found in Merritt, Richard, Symbols of American Community (New Haven, 1966).Google Scholar

26 Since very young children were sampled, any approximation to the United States or America was accepted. Spelling was not my main interest.

27 Flavell, Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget.

28 While blacks do catch up by the ninth grade, the lag is important from a psychoanalytic viewpoint. That is, if one accepts the notion that early identifications are the most important and lasting, then these patterns are striking.

29 Children were assigned to the modal social class of their school district since very young children have great difficulty in accurately reporting their parent's occupation or income. School districts were classified by average income, home valuation, and reports of school officials.

30 Class factors seem closely related to cognitive learning in general. See Deutsch, Martin P., “The Disadvantaged Child and the Learning Process,” in Passow, A. Harry, ed., Education in Depressed Areas (New York, 1963), 163–79Google Scholar; Deutsch, Martin, “The Role of Social Class in Language Development and Cognition,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Jan. 1965, 78–88Google Scholar; and Bernstein, B., “Some Sociological Determinants of Perception: An Inquiry into Sub-Cultural Differences,” British Journal of Sociology, IV (1958), 159–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31 A stimulating article in this regard is Deutsch, “The Disadvantaged Child and the Learning Process.”

32 See both Coleman, James S., Equality of Educational Opportunity (Washington, DC, 1968)Google Scholar; and Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Washington, DC), 424–57.

33 See the discussion in Deutsch, “The Disadvantaged Child and the Learning Process.” Further data to substantiate this generalization can be found in Key, V. O., Public Opinion and American Democracy (New York, 1949), chap. 14.Google Scholar

33 See Bernstein, “Some Sociological Determinants of Perception,” and Deutsch, “The Role of Social Class in Language Development and Cognition.”

35 The data are even more striking in light of the difficulty of the city name, Philadelphia.

36 Doob, Patriotism and Nationalism, 34.

37 Unfortunately, a mistake in the collation of the questionnaires resulted in a reduced number of students in the upper grades having an opportunity to answer these two questions. However, data from Pittsburgh collected by the writer tend to confirm the findings of Table II.

38 Horowitz, “Some Aspects of the Development of Patriotism in Children,” and Lawson, “The Development of Patriotism in Children.”

39 Easton and Hess make a similar argument in “The Child's Political World.”

40 See The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 251–65; St Clair Drake, “The Social and Economic Status of the Negro in the United States”; Preston Valien, “The General Demo-graphic Characteristics of the Negro Population in the United States;” Fein, Rashi, “An Economic and Social Profile of the Negro American,” all in Parsons, Talcott and Clark, Kenneth, eds., The Negro American (Boston, 1965)Google Scholar; “The Economic Report of the President, 1964” (Washington, DC); and Orshansky, Mollie, “Who's Who Among the Poor: A Demographic View of Poverty,” Social Security Bulletin (July 1965).Google Scholar

41 See Greenberg, Edward S., “Political Socialization to Support of the System: A Comparison of White and Black Children” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1969).Google Scholar

42 See especially, Piaget and Weil, “The Development in Children of the Idea of The Homeland and of Relations with Other Countries.”

43 See Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life, chap. 10.

44 See Doob, Patriotism and Nationalism, chap. 4–9 for a discussion of the major elements of nationalism.

45 The multidimensionality is shown quite well by the low correlation between the items utilized to measure affect. No pair of questions at any grade level show a correlation greater than 0.4.

46 Unforeseen circumstances led to a very low N in the seventh and ninth grades on this particular question, thus making impossible the introduction of controls. See n. 37 for an explanation. The two grades are combined to give a reasonable N with which to work.

47 The drop-off in affect for the flag among black students is substantiated by data collected by this writer in another major northern city, Pittsburgh.

48 See Greenberg, “Political Socialization to Support of the System.”

49 While the Ns are quite small, the trends are none the less suggestive. Certainly this calls for further research.

50 This follows from the definition of a political community as a collection of people with shared sentiments and identifications.

51 Doob, Patriotism and Nationalism, 77.

52 It must be stressed again that while the absolute differences between the races are small, the trends show divergence and are manifested on every item.

53 Scattered pieces of information in the remainder of the project, not reported here, point to the longitudinal interpretation. Two pieces of information are of central importance. First, the emergent patterns are similar to adult opinion. Second, ninth grade children hold a higher assessment of government than do seventh grade children, thus pointing to the longitudinal interpretation. It would seem logical that those undergoing socialization prior to the civil rights acts should not score higher than those undergoing socialization subsequent to them.

54 See 128–9.

55 Hess and Torney, The Development of Political Attitudes in Children, 31 (italics not in original).

56 Easton and Hess, “The Child's Political World,” 230.

57 See Almond, Gabriel A. and Verba, Sidney, The Civic Culture (Princeton, 1963)CrossRefGoogle Scholar chap. 12; and Prewitt, K., Eulau, H., and Zisk, B. H., “Political Socialization and Political Roles,” Public Opinion Quarterly, XXX (winter 1967), 569–82.Google Scholar