M. Margaret Conway

The Contours and Sources of Ethnic Identity Choices Among Asian Americans

How do individuals of Asian descent in the United States identify themselves in ethnic terms and why? The purpose of this research is to map the contours of ethnic self-identities among Asian adults and explain their identity preferences in this immigrant community of color. Copyright (c) 2003 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Group-Based Resources and Political Participation among Asian Americans

Scholars of minority political participation have shown significant interest in unraveling the complex but crucial role of group-basedresources. Although there is an emerging scholarship on Latinos, much of the work on group consciousness, group identity, and ethnic organizations is based on research on Black Americans. Increasing diversity in the United States brings necessary attention to expanding the model to the politics and participation of other non-White, multiethnic, and immigrant majority communities. Using a new and unique dataset designed to tap the political opinion and behavior of Asian Americans, the authors find that the usefulness of group-based resources for this rapidly expanding and heterogeneous population is contingent on the specific form of the resources and the mode of political participation.

The News Media in Children's Political Socialization

MUCH previous research on the development of childrens political orientations has emphasized interpersonal sources of influence such as families, peer groups, and schools. Central to this literature are the active learning concepts of motivation, practice, and achievement. But children also learn through passive experiences, which are typically effortless, responsive to animated stimuli amenable to artificial aid to relaxation, and characterized by an absence of resistance to what is learned, thus opening up possibilities that, depending upon ones view, one may welcome or deplore (Krugman and Hartley, 1970:184). Many of these passive experiences are provided to children

Patterns of Political Trust and Mistrust: Three Moments in the Lives of Democratic Citizens

It is now well known that there has been a remarkable decline in the number of Americans who believe that the government can be trusted to do the right thing most of the time. In this paper, we try to identify those experiences and factors that might best account for varying levels of trust and mistrust among citizens. Using a panel study, we learn that early political socialization experiences in school and participation as an adult in community associations only account for modest differences among citizens who do or do not trust the government. More significant is their reaction to major political events such as the Vietnam War or the Watergate scandal. Earlier levels of personal and political trust are the single best predictor to later levels of trust. But trust, once lost, is difficult for a government to regain. The generation of trust has itself become a more highly politicized process, one that calls into question the civil society thesis which imagines governments as the direct beneficiaries of social capital.

Democratic Socialization in the Schools

Participation is important for the political education of democratic citizens. But perhaps the strongest factor that explains participatory differences among democratic citizens is the education variable (for example, academic-track/college-bound students are more democratic, participatory, and active). Along with sociodemographic and certain relevant high school variables, our study examines what happens inside schools (for example, extracurricular activities) to measure the effects of this informal education on students’ democratic beliefs. We also consider whether or not these beliefs affect patterns of community and political participation among young adults. In the study, we used data from the US National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, wherein the National Center for Education Statistics surveyed a representative national sample of all high school seniors. Five follow-up surveys were done. Based on the 1972 base-year survey and the 1974 and 1976 follow ups, our most important finding is that participation in high school activities significantly predicts the holding of democratic beliefs which, in turn, is related to patterns of political and community participation among young adults.

The Kelley-Mirer Rule and Prediction of Voter Choice in the 1974 Senate Elections

The voter canvases his likes and dislikes of the leading candidates and major parties involved in an election. Weighing each like and dislike equally, he votes for the candidate toward whom he has the greatest net number of favorable attitudes, if there is such a candidate. If no candidate has such an advantage, the voter votes consistently with his party affiliation, if he has one. If his attitudes do not incline him toward one candidate more than toward another, and if he does not identify with one of the major parties, the voter reaches a null decision.