The Political Involvement of Adolescents

At first glance, this book might seem like only another marginally useful product of the burgeoning industry of surveying high school seniors in their political perspectives. Closer inspection, however, reveals that this is no run-of-the-mill socialization study. In some ways, this book is as notable for what it does not do as for what it does. It devotes little attention, for example, to the well-worn problems of the persistence of attitudes or the relative impact of agents of socialization. Beyond that, Roberta Sigel and Marilyn Hoskin approach their subjects with a clear philosophical concern: What encourages political involvement? They define involvement in a laudably inclusive manner, including emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. Not only do the authors thereby focus their inquiry and shun the all-too-frequent dimestore assortment of attitudes, they also contribute unusual insights into the process of learning political behavior. The discussions of affect, cognition, and participation present little which is new. Nevertheless, they provide a worthy prelude to the authors' construction of a threefold typology of involvement which results in eight distinct types, all fairly well represented in the sample. This heterogeneity of involvement suggests that political scientists should be concerned not with the "whether" but with the "how" of participation, even before adulthood. Sigel and Hoskin conclude that involvement is the product of three complementary influences: social status, personality characteristics such as self-esteem, and the overall politicization of the immediate environment. In the most inventive and thought-provoking section of their study, they juxtapose these results, derived from questionnaires and interviews, with the adolescents' open-ended responses to hypothetical political situations and thus combine two separate strands of the literature on adolescents' politics. Interestingly, the large differences between the adolescents on types of involvement are sizably reduced when comparing potential propensities for influence under hypothetical circumstances. At all levels of involvement (not to mention all levels of self-esteem, social status, and politicization), the adolescents appear equipped with repertoires of political influence, drawing comfortably upon both "conventional" and "unconventional" methods. The divergence between actual and potential involvement seems to arise from the peripheral nature of politics in the adolescents' everyday world, filled with private concerns, as compared to its direct intervention in the hypothetical situations. The role of politicization is key. Unfortunately like most political socialization scholars, Sigel and Hoskin do not take the last step and address the political system itself as a cause, not just an effect, of the patterns of learning they witness. Their final paragraph decries the failure of family, schools, or media to boost political involvement. However, to follow Schattschneider, political actors themselves may help make politics seem irrelevant and not worth the costs of involvement. There are other flaws. In a one-shot survey it is difficult to talk about development. This would be a minor drawback if there were an unambiguous model of psychological development. However the authors never clarify their psychological premises beyond a few brief citations. (Alas, their comment in their section on cognition that they "lean heavily though sketchily" (p. 9) on Piaget says it all.) Their inquiry consequently verges on psychological guesswork. With neither method nor model for a guide, it sometimes becomes difficult to conclude exactly what causes what. For example, while Sigel and Hoskin assert that a politicized environment leads to political involvement, the relationship could easily be reversed or reciprocal. Such alternatives are scarcely considered at all. In many ways, however, Sigel and Hoskin have produced an outstanding work, with a sharp philosophical focus, an innovative research design, and a path-breaking emphasis upon the learning of patterns of political behavior as a crucial aspect of political socialization, moving beyond the concern with acquisition of attitudes. The Political Involvement of Adolescents is worthy of the attention not merely of students of political socialization, but also of those concerned with the problems of popular involvement in democracy.