The Changing American Voter.

Why do people think and act politically in the manner they do? Despite the foundational nature of this question, answers are unfortunately incomplete and unnecessarily tentative, largely because political scientists do not take seriously the possibility of nonenvironmental influences. The suggestion that people could be born with political predispositions strikes many as far-fetched, odd, even perverse. However, researchers in other disciplines—‐ notably behavioral genetics—‐have uncovered a substantial heritable component for many social attitudes and behaviors and it seems unlikely that political attitudes and behaviors are completely immune from such forces. In this article, we combine relevant findings in behavioral genetics with our own analysis of data on a large sample of twins to test the hypothesis that, contrary to the assumptions embedded in political science research, political attitudes have genetic as well as environmental causes. 1

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=poliscifacpub

Are Political Orientations Genetically Transmitted

The American political science review

A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. By Cliff Zukin, Scott Keeter, Molly Andolina, Krista Jenkins, and Michael X. Delli Carpini. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 253p. $19.00. Should we be really worried about declining public engagement? Or should we accept that it is merely changing shape? This book describes substantial alterations in the ways Americans are involved in public life, particularly younger citizens, and analyzes a wide range of empirical data with the goal of understanding the implications—both negative and positive—of these emerging patterns of participation.

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A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen

Political socialization research holds the distinction of benefiting, possibly more fully than other subfields of study, from conceptual and empirical contributions from many academic disciplines. While the main emphases of scholars from different fields may reflect certain intradisciplinary perspectives, the cumulative product is distinctly interdisciplinary, as seen in the widescope of contemporary research findings. Educators have been concerned with the role of the schools in the political socialization process, while sociologists have directed attention more broadly toward the roles of many potential agencies of political socialization. Psychologists, focusing upon political socialization as a learning process, have directed attention to learning and developmental theories. Political scientists have examined both the antecedents and consequences of the socialization process.

Political Socialization: A Topical Bibliography.

Do Canadians believe they can succeed on the basis of their own abilities? And how do they compare with Americans, Germans, Italians, Australians and Russians? There is much debate as to how Canadians differ from or resemble citizens of other countries, particularly the United States. Is it true that we are more tolerant and deferential than our southern neighbours, or more accepting of the actions of government in our lives? Do Quebecers view the world differently from other Canadians? Do women see society differently from men? Comparisons such as these, approached through survey analysis, yield up a true portrait of national identity. Social Inequality in Canada brings a comparative perspective to the question of the uniqueness of Canadian society. The challenges attending comparative attitudinal research led to the creation in 1980 of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), represented in Canada by the Carleton University Survey Centre. Their data provide the basis for this vanguard study of international attitudes toward social inequality: who's up, who's down and who's responsible for changing society? Social Inequality measures the consistency and logic of perceived social conditions and priorities in Canada compared with 18 other countries. It is essential reading for social scientists and policy-makers of every persuasion.

Social inequality in Canada

The Canadian General Election of 1984 provides a concise and readable guide to the recent federal election. Marrying journalism to social science, this survey reports on the campaign, examines the functions of the news media and the polls, and analyzes the results. Included are details of the vote nationally, regionally, by province and by constituency.

The Canadian General Election Of 1988

In December 1966 a study was conducted in the public and separate schools of Kingston, Ontario, to measure the development of political knowledge and attitudes of a group of young Canadian children.1 The research was patterned after the pioneering effort of F. Greenstein,2 and many questions similar to his were employed to enable the making of comparisons of patterns of socialization in groups of Canadian and American children. The study consisted of a sample survey of 1,985 children in ten schools. Of these children 594 attended four separate (Catholic) schools and 1,391 attended six public schools. Since the latest census shows that the Catholic population in Kingston is 28 per cent of the total population, there was a correct percentage of Catholics in our sample.3 Because the sample will be divided into public and separate school sections for analysis, a question might arise as to the number of Catholic children attending the public schools. The Separate School Board of Kingston estimated that in the Grades 4 to 8 range, of which the sample consisted, about 95 per cent of the Catholic children in Kingston were attending separate schools. Thus, when inferences are made about Protestant children using the public schools, a few Catholic children, as well as Jewish children, will be included. Written questionnaires were filled in by the students of Grades 4 to 8 in the schools selected (with the exception of two of the separate schools, one of which went only from Grades 1 to 6 and another from which only Grades 7 and 8 were used).4 In the cases of large schools where more than two classes existed per grade, we randomly selected two of the classes within the grade, or in cases where the classes were "streamed" we randomly selected one top and one lower stream class. In Grades 4 and 5 the questionnaires were read out to the classes by the teachers as the questionnaires were filled out.

The Development of Political Orientations in Canadian School Children

Introduction J.H.Pammett & J.DeBardeleben PART I: DEFINING THE PARTICIPATION GAP Citizen Participation and Democratic Deficits: Considerations from the Perspective of Democratic Theory M.Warren The Decline of Political Participation: An Empirical Overview of Voter Turnout and Party Membership A.Siaroff PART II: VOTER TURNOUT: UNDERSTANDING THE DECLINE Turnout in Electoral Democracies Revisited A.Blais & A.Dobrzynska Where Turnout Holds Firm: The Scandinavian Exceptions J.Elklit & L.Togeby New Members, Old Issues: The Problem of Voter Turnout in European Parliament Elections J.DeBardeleben & L.LeDuc PART III: PARTIES AS VEHICLES OF PARTICIPATION Party Membership and Activism in Comparative Perspective P.Whiteley Models of Party Organization and Europarties L.Bardi & E.Calossi Grassroots Participation and Party Leadership Selection: Examining the British and Canadian Cases W.Cross & J.Crysler PART IV: BEYOND ELECTIONS AND PARTIES: INNOVATIONS IN ACTIVATING CITIZENS Participation and the Good Citizen J.H.Pammett Institutionalizing Participation through Citizens' Assemblies J.Rose Citizen Involvement in Constitutional Politics: European and Canadian Experiences L.LeDuc Youth Engagement, Civic Engagement, and New Vehicles of Political Participation E.Saunders

Activating the citizen : dilemmas of participation in Europe and Canada

The General Election of 1997 did not turn out as Jean Chretien and the Liberal Party had planned. Chretien called an early election, believing that his party was in a position to retain the majority they had won in 1993. They got their majority, but just barely. When the campaign began, the focus for many Canadians was the economy and job creation. National unity, however, quickly became a key issue, and triggered the most heated debates of the campaign. As was the case in 1993, the election of 1997 saw the country divided along regional lines. The Bloc Quebecois remained strong in Quebec, while the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats dominated the maritime provinces. The Reform Party, meanwhile, won the west in a landslide, becoming the Official Opposition for the first time. It was Ontario, however, where the election was won: the Liberals won all but two seats in Canada's largest province, and in the end that was enough to carry Jean Chretien to victory. The Canadian General Election of 1997 is a study of the key aspects of the campaign and the election itself. In addition to analyzing each party's campaign, authors examine the role of the media, pollsters, the electoral system, and the voters. Articles are contributed by some of the best-known political writers in Canada today: Anthony Westell, Stephen Clarkson, Peter Woolstencroft, Alan Whitehorn, Keith Archer, Faron Ellis, AndrBernard, Chris Dornan, Ed Greenspon, Michael Marzolini, and Louis Massicotte. This readable volume will appeal to an academic as well as a general readership, and is ideally suited for libraries and political science courses. New to this year's volume is a post-election survey by Jon Pammett.

Jon H. Pammett

Papers

Social inequality in Canada

The Canadian General Election Of 1988

The Development of Political Orientations in Canadian School Children

Activating the citizen : dilemmas of participation in Europe and Canada

The Canadian general election of 1997