Jaros, Hirsch, & Eleron Jr. (1970) The Malevolent Leader: Political Socialization in an American Sub-Culture

building patriotic citizens in schools? Are these findings in fact, "culturally bound?"
2 problems:
(1) data is all from the U.S. (and white kids)
(2) the findings have not progressed that far


This chapter looks to see if the "benevolent leader" findings transmit to a sub-culture in the US: the Appalachian region of eastern KY; which works bc it is poor, rural, isolated

Two (2) explanations of Children's Authority Orientations:
(1) the family directly transmits positive values about government and political to the child while shielding him from stimuli which have negative connotations...
(2) the fam is an important socializing agent bc the child's experiences with his immediate authority figures (parents) are somehow projected to include more remote agencies, including the political.

Method:
N=2,432
kinds grade 5-12
paper and pencil questionnaires

Measuring affect for political authority:
(1) reports of images of president
(2) political cynicism score--basic orientation toward political actors and activity

Measurement of family authority structure:
(1 )father image
(2) noting whether the father lives at home

Findings:
the subculture has more negative attitudes toward government (571) and it doesnt change with age, unlike the other studies' findings.
Child views remain fairly static
Atypical findings from Knox support the notion of a direct transfer parental values to certain aspects of child political orientations—particularly re: political cynicism & competence of president
Doubt that family authority structure is an effective means of understanding political communication of regime values-look to other factors or other family dynamics
Explanatory relationships are modest
Positive views of political may be culturally bound
Divergent findings help underscore explanations for child political socialization