Ronald D. Lambert

The Social Sources of Political Knowledge

The study explored the sources of political knowledge using data from the 1984 Canadian National Election Study. Two dimensions of political knowledge were measured: factual knowledge, in which respondents were asked to name the 10 provincial premiers; and conceptual knowledge, in terms of respondents’ abilities to define and use the concepts of left and right. The authors tested four explanations of peoples levels of political knowledge; these dealt with education, political participation, media effects and region, with controls for income, residency in several provinces, age and sex. Education was significantly associated with both forms of knowledge, but especially with conceptual knowledge. Reading about politics in newspapers and magazines was strongly related to the two knowledge variables. The effects of reliance on television for political information, however, were much weaker. There were significant effects for region, with the patterns depending on the type of knowledge. The study concludes with some observations about the role of knowledge in political behaviour.

Social Stratification and Canadians' Reactions to American Cultural Influences

different social institutions in the sense of their national autonomy and mandate has been subjected to critical scrutiny and discussion by scholars, opinion leaders, and other members of the institutional elites. A good part of what is now an extensive research and policy-oriented literature on the topic has originated with the federal and provincial governments themselves.2 The bulk of the literature, with many of its conclusions widely publicized in the popular media, has held (a) that the current amount of U.S. influence in Canada in many areas is problematic and (b) that greater national autonomy of Canadian institutions is an important goal to be pursued, other things equal. Elite consensus seems clearest on these points for American influences on

5. More on Studies of Class and Nationalism

1970 The unemployed. A social-psychological portrait. New Jersey, Englewood Cliffs. VAN MAELE, C. 1982 Taakverdeling in het gezin: spiegel voor emancipatie ? Brussel, C.B.G.S., Studies en Documenten, nr. 55. VAN LOON, F., K. PAUWELS & H. VAN HUMSKERKE 1982 Werkloosheid en Gezin, Antwerpen, De Nederlandsche Boekhandel. ZAWADSKI, B. & P. LAZARSFELD 1935 The psychological consequences of unemployment, Journal of Social Psychology, 6, 224-251.