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Image of a President: Some Insights into the Political Views of School Children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Roberta S. Sigel
Roberta S. Sigel*
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
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Extract

The map of the child's political world is slowly beginning to be filled in. The areas best filled in so far are his view of certain government officials (President, judges, policemen, etc.) and his understanding (or lack of understanding) of the operation of specific political institutions (legislatures, parties, etc.). Of all persons in government none is as well known as the President of the United States. Even at an early age children know his name and even his party affiliation. Best documented so far is the nature of the child's affection for the President. Apparently he enjoys the child's deep respect, admiration, loyalty, and even love. Some scholars have gone so far as to imply that he symbolizes nation, leadership, and father all in one. This being the case, it seems imperative that we ask: Is the President merely a symbol of leadership who will be loved irrespective of the political stands he takes, or is he seen as a genuine political figure who stands for specific political principles, legislation, etc.?

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , March 1968 , pp. 216 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1968

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References

1 Greenstein, Fred, Children and Politics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965), especially pp. 12–14.Google Scholar

2 Ibid.; also see the work of David Easton, Robert Hess, and Jack Dennis, especially: Hess, Robert D., “The Socialization of Attitudes Toward Political Authority: Some Cross National Comparisons,” International Social Science Journal, 15 (1963), 542–559 Google Scholar; Hess, Robert D. and Easton, David, “The Child's Changing Image of the President,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 24 (1960), 632–644 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Easton, David and Dennis, Jack, “The Child's Image of Government,” The Annals, 361 (1965), 40–57.Google Scholar

3 Ibid.

4 Torney, Judith and Hess, Robert, “The Child's Idealization of Authority,” a paper presented to the American Psychological Association meeting at St. Louis in 1962.Google Scholar

5 Sigel, Roberta S., “An Exploration into Some Aspects of Political Socialization: School Children's Reaction to the Death of a President,” in Wolfenstein, Martha and Kliman, Gilbert (eds.), Children and the Death of a President: Multi-Disciplinary Studies (New York: Doubleday, 1965), pp. 30–59 Google Scholar; and Sigel, Roberta S., “Television and the Reactions of School Children to the Assassination,” in Greenberg, Bradley S. and Parker, Edwin B. (eds.), The Kennedy Assassination and the American Public: Social Communication in Crisis (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1965), pp. 199–219.Google Scholar

6 See especially Lazarsfeld, Paul F., Berelson, Bernard, and Gaudet, Hazel, The People's Choice (New York: Columbia University Press, 1948)Google Scholar; Campbell, Angus, Converse, Philip E., Miller, Warren E., and Stokes, Donald E., The American Voter (New York: Wiley and Sons, 1960), pp. 171–183.Google Scholar

7 Sigel, Roberta S., “The Effect of Partisanship in the Perception of Political Candidates,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 28 (1964), p. 496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8 Campbell et al., op. cit., p. 28.

9 The question about liking was asked after the question about remembering to avoid forcing an affective response in the last instance.

10 We used the phrase “did in his job” rather than to talk about his political contribution in order to make it comprehensible for 4th-6th graders. Initially we were concerned that the phrase “in his job” might be too ambiguous and would not focus children's attention on the specifically political. Experience with the pilot interview reassured us that children understood the question.

11 Greenstein, op. cit., Chapter 4, especially tables on pp. 58–59.

12 Schramm, Wilbur, Lyle, Jack, and Parker, Edwin B., Television in the Lives of Our Children (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961), p. 233.Google Scholar

13 The discussion which follows above refers to responses to the question: “What can you remember that President Kennedy did as a President?”

14 It is, of course, possible that younger children, too, recalled more but just had more trouble writing it down.

15 While concern for peace may well have been sparked by the Cuban Crisis, not all youngsters approved of Kennedy's handling of it (a 17 year old boy thought he had “goofed,” and a 13 year old girl said: “he made me mad the way he handled the Cuban Crisis”).

16 Peace, for example, is mentioned by 19 percent of the 4th and 16 percent of the 12th graders; foreign affairs by 5 percent and 13 percent respectively.

17 The check-list was offered much later than the other question so as not to suggest answers to them.

18 Greenstein, op. cit., p. 99, suggests that politics do not interest children but dramatic events, such as satellites and integration crises, do.

19 It is, of course, possible that other, less colorful Presidents would evoke less politicized an image. The findings with respect to Eisenhower (see p. 217 above) lend plausibility to this argument. Follow-up research with other Presidents is, therefore, called for.

20 See Sigel, “An Exploration …,” op. cit., pp. 45, 48.

21 The only information relevant to SES available to us was father's occupation.

22 The necessary controls on age were run but did not yield a pattern different from the one described above. Controls were undertaken for all variables but are not discussed separately unless they affected the relationships.

23 Litt, Edgar, “Civic Education, Community Norms, and Political Indoctrination,” American Sociological Review, 28 (1963), 69–75 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lipset, Martin S., Political Man (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1963), pp. 87–182.Google Scholar

24 Greenstein, op. cit., p. 32.

25 Sigel, Roberta S., “Image of the Presidency—Part II of an Exploration into Popular Views of Presidential Power,” Midwest Journal of Political Science, 10 (1966), 123–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26 Greenstein, Fred I., “College Student Reactions to the Assassination of President Kennedy,” paper prepared for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Conference on Children's Reactions to the Death of the President, New York City, April 3–4, 1964.Google Scholar Sheatsley, Paul B. and Feldman, Jacob J., “The Assassination of President Kennedy: A Preliminary Report on Public Reactions and Behavior,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 28 (Summer 1964), noted, p. 205 Google Scholar, that 80 percent of adults were impressed with Kennedy's intelligence.

27 Sigel, “Image of the Presidency …,” op. cit., p. 126.

28 See especially the writings of Easton and Hess cited above.

29 Roberta S. Sigel, “Political Socialization—Some Reactions to Current Approaches and Conceptualizations,” paper prepared for delivery at the 1966 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in New York City.

30 Sigel, “Image of the Presidency …,” op. cit., p. 127.

31 Even very few of the 4th graders restricted themselves to office-related responses.

32 Sigel, , “Television and the Reaction …,” op. cit., pp. 199–219.Google Scholar

33 Lane, Robert E. and Sears, David O., Public Opinion (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964), p. 61.Google Scholar

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