Abstract
This paper tests cognitive mobilization, structural role, and traditional socialization agent theories of political literacy, conceptualized as the potential for informed political participation. Political literacy cannot be measured directly, but we presume that if people are politically literate, they understand party differences and know basic political concepts and facts. Other names for this concept include political expertise, political awareness, and civic competence. Using Jennings and Niemi's youth-parent panel socialization data, we conclude that cognitive mobilization has the largest effect on political literacy, followed fairly closely by structural roles. Socialization agents have a very minor effect. This conclusion partly supports prevailing cognitive mobilization explanations of this concept. However, self-selection causes much of the relationship between political literacy and education, making education's cognitive mobilization potential far smaller than most political scientists assumed. Political involvement and ability are the main sources of cognitive mobilization instead, and education's spurious cross-sectional effect primarily reflects structural roles.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Achen, Christopher H. (1983). Toward theories of data: The state of political methodology. In Ada W. Finifter (ed), Political Science: The State of the Discipline. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association.
Bartels, Larry M., and Henry E. Brady (1993). The state of quantitative political methodology. In Ada W. Finifter (ed), Political Science: The State of the Discipline II. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association.
Bollen, Kenneth A. (1989). Structural Equations with Latent Variables. New York: Wiley.
Brody, Richard A. (1978). The puzzle of political participation in America. In Anthony King (ed.), The New American Political System. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Brody, Richard A. (1994). Secondary Education and Political Attitudes: Examining the Effects on Political Tolerance of the We the People... Curriculum. Calabasas, CA: Center for Civic Education.
Campbell, Angus, Philip E. Converse, Warren E. Miller, and Donald E. Stokes. (1960). The American Voter. New York: Wiley.
Campbell, Richard D. (1983). Status attainment research: End of the beginning or beginning of the end? Sociology of Education 56: 47–62.
Campbell, Richard T., and Elizabeth Mutran (1982). Analyzing panel data in studies of aging: Applications of the LISREL model. Research on Aging 11: 3–41.
Carmines, Edward G., and John P. McIver (1981). Analyzing models with unobserved variables. In George W. Bohrnstedt and Edgar F. Borgotta (eds.), Social Measurement. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Cassel, Carol A. (1982). Predicting party identification, 1956–80: Who are the Republicans and who are the Democrats? Political Behavior 4: 265–282.
Collins, Randall (1979). The Credential Society: An Historical Sociology of Education and Stratification. New York: Academic Press.
Connell, R. W. (1987). Why the political socialization paradigm failed and what should replace it. International Political Science Review 8: 215–233.
Conover, Pamela Johnson (1991). Political socialization: Where's the politics? In William Crotty (ed.), Political Science: Looking to the Future, vol. 3. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Converse, Philip E. (1964). The nature of belief systems in mass publics. In David E. Apter (ed.), Ideology and Discontent. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Converse, Philip E. (1970). Attitudes and non-attitudes: Continuation of a dialogue. in Edward R. Tufte (ed.), The Quantitative Analysis of Social Problems. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Converse, Philip E. (1975). Public opinion and voting behavior. In Fred Greenstein and Nelson Polsby (eds.), Handbook of Political Science, vol. 4. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Dalton, Russell J. (1980). Reassessing parental socialization: Indicator unreliability versus generational transfer. American Political Science Review 74: 421–431.
Dalton, Russell J. (1982). The pathways of parental socialization. American Politics Quarterly 10: 139–157.
Dalton, Russell J. (1984). Cognitive mobilization and partisan dealignment in advanced industrial democracies. Journal of Politics 46: 264–284.
Dalton, Russell J. (1988). Citizen Politics in Western Democracies. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.
Dalton, Russell J., Scott C. Flanagan, and Paul Allen Beck (1984). Electoral Change in Advanced Industrial Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Delli Carpini, Michael X., and Scott Teeter (1993). Measuring political knowledge: Putting first things first. American Journal of Political Science 37: 1179–1206.
Denver, David, and Gordon Hands (1990). Does studying politics make a difference? The political knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of school students. British Journal of Political Science 20: 263–288.
Erikson, Robert S., and Kent L. Tedin (1995). American Public Opinion: Its Origins, Content, and Impact, 5th. ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Hamill, Ruth, and Milton Lodge (1986). Cognitive consequences of political sophistication. In Richard R. Lau and David O. Sears (eds.), Political Cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.
Heiss, Jerold (1990). Social Roles. In Morris Rosenberg and Ralph H. Turner (eds.), Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives. New Brunswick: Transaction.
Hyman, Herbert H. (1959). Political Socialization: A Study in the Psychology of Political Behavior. New York: Free Press.
Inglehart, Ronald (1970). Cognitive mobilization and European identity. Comparative Politics 3: 45–70.
Inglehart, Ronald (1977). The Silent Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Inglehart, Ronald (1990). Cultural Shift in Advanced Industrial Society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jaros, Dean, and R. Darcy (1972). The elusive impact of political science: More negative findings. Experimental Study of Politics 2: 14–54.
Jennings, M. Kent, Kenneth P. Langton, and Richard G. Niemi (1974). Effects of the high school civics curriculum. In M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi (eds.), The Political Character of Adolescence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jennings, M. Kent, and Richard G. Niemi (1974). The Political Character of Adolescence: The Influence of Families and Schools. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jennings, M. Kent, and Richard G. Niemi (1981). Generations and Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Joreskog, Karl G. (1973). A general model for estimating a linear structural equation system. In Arthur Goldberger and O. D. Duncan (eds.), Structural Equation Models in the Social Sciences. New York: Seminar Press.
Joreskog, Karl G., and Dag Sorbom (1988). LISREL 7: A Guide to the Program and Application. Chicago: SPSS, Inc.
Knoke, David, and George W. Bohrnstedt (1994). Statistics for Social Data Analysis, 3rd ed. Itasca, IL: Peacock.
Krosnick, Jon A. (1990). Expertise and political psychology. Social Cognition 8: 1–8.
Krosnick, Jon A., and Laura A. Brannon (1993). The impact of the Gulf War on the ingredients of presidential evaluations: Multidimensional effects of political involvement. American Political Science Review 87: 963–75.
Krosnick, Jon A., and Michael A. Milburn (1990). Psychological determinants of political opinionation. Social Cognition 8: 49–72.
Luskin, Robert C. (1987). Measuring political sophistication. American Journal of Political Science 31: 856–899.
Luskin, Robert C. (1990). Explaining political sophistication. Political Behavior 12: 331–61.
Merton, Robert K. (1968). Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.
Meyer, John W. (1977). The effects of education as an institution. American Journal of Sociology 83: 55–77.
Neuman, W. Russell (1986). The Paradox of Mass Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Nie, Norman H., Jane Junn, and Ken Stehlik-Barry (1993). Education and democratic citizenship in America. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC.
Niemi, Richard G., and Jane Junn (1993). Civics courses and the political knowledge of high school seniors. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC.
Parsons, Talcott (1964). Social Structure and Personality. New York: Free Press.
Stimson, James (1975). Belief systems: Constraint, complexity, and the 1972 election. American Journal of Political Science 19: 393–417.
Strate, John M., Charles J. Parrish, Charles D. Elder, and Coit Ford III (1989). Life span civic development and voting participation. American Political Science Review 83: 443–464.
Teixeira, Ruy (1987). Why Americans Don't Vote: Turnout Decline in the United States 1960–1984. New York: Greenwood.
Turner, Jonathan H. (1991). The Structure of Sociological Theory. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Turner, Ralph H. (1956). Role-taking, role standpoint, and reference group behavior. American Journal of Sociology 61: 316–328.
Westholm, Anders, Arne Lindquist, and Richard G. Niemi (1990). Education and the making of the informed citizen: Political literacy and the outside world. In Orit Ichilov (ed.), Political Socialization, Citizenship Education, and Democracy. New York: Teachers' College.
Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Steven J. Rosenstone (1980). Who Votes? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Wood, Sandra, Kristina Thalhammer, John L. Sullivan, Karen Bird, Patricia G. Avery, and Kate Klein (1994). Tolerance for diversity of beliefs: Learning about tolerance and liking it too. Review of Education/Pedagogy/Cultural Studies 16: 349–372.
Wormald, Eileen (1988). Political literacy in a newly independent country: Papua New Guinea. Presented at the XIV World Congress of the International Political Science Association.
Zaller, John R. (1992). The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cassel, C.A., Lo, C.C. Theories of Political Literacy. Political Behavior 19, 317–335 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024895721905
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024895721905