Political Socialization in a Media-Saturated World

The studies that comprise Political Socialization in a Media Saturated World synthesize, question, and update our knowledge of political socialization that has accumulated over the past 40 years of related research. The scholarship advances innovative theoretical perspectives and develops new models of the socialization process that revolve around the key social structures of family, media, peers, and school. The Hierarchy Model of Political Socialization, in particular, provides a comprehensive conceptual framework for organizing and analyzing youth responses to the political. With research that spans multiple election cycles across nearly a decade, and data drawn from a national panel study that allows for cross-generational comparison, the findings and models of political socialization presented provide the most comprehensive and in-depth examination of youth political socialization that exists to date. This book provides a foundation and research agenda for examining the Millennial generation in the coming years as these citizens mature to adults and become the driving force of society and our polity.

Esther Thorson (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is p\Professor of Media Economics, Innovation, and Entrepreneurism in Journalism at Michigan State University. She is co-author/editor of eight books, including Theories of Advertising (2012), and Persuasion Ethics Today (2016). Mitchell S. McKinney (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is Professor and Chair of Communication and Director of the Political Communication Institute at the University of Missouri. He is co-author/editor of seven books, including Communication in the 2008 U.S. Election: Digital Natives Elect a President (2011), and alieNATION: The Divide & Conquer Election of 2012 (2014). Dhavan V. Shah (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is the Louis A. & Mary E. Maier-Bascom Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is Director of the Mass Communication Research Center and Scientific Director in the Center for Health Enhancement System Studies. Shah is co-author of News Frames and National Security: Covering Big Brother (2015).