BIE_F_03 The Parental Home as a Social Microcosm: Intergenerational Transmission of Attitudes towards Cohesion

Objective / Research Questions

A large number of empirical studies in sociology, political science, educational science, and psychology demonstrate the great importance parental socialization has on the social and political attitudes adopted in adulthood (cf. e.g. Glass et al. 1986). The aim of this project is to empirically investigate the influence of experiences in the parental home on attitudes towards social cohesion. On the one hand, this influence is considered as a direct transmission of, for example, positive attitudes towards members of society or also practices with a community relationship between parent and child generations (work package 1). This direct influence includes, for example, the study of intergenerational stability in attitudes and behaviour towards one’s own community, as well as the transmission of collectively shared feelings of belonging (cf. e.g. Jennings & Niemi 1981). On the other hand, indirect influence will be investigated in which children learn successful cohesion in the microcosm of the family through the lived interaction of parents and siblings (work package 2). This indirect influence includes, for example, experienced conflict regulation and dealing with divergent views in families, which in the long term express themselves, among other things, in positive attitudes towards members of society of the adult children (cf. already Adorno et al. 1950).

Thematic reference to social cohesion

Generating knowledge about creating social cohesion is one of the tasks of RISC, which builds in a central way on studies of attitude development as well as cohesion practices at the level of individual members of a society. The project aims to contribute to this goal by focusing on parental socialization as a central determinant of attitudes. In this context, RISC’s founding application refers to the “social relations and practices at the micro level that generate forms of social cohesion. This includes forms of living and working together in small-scale contexts, such as businesses and families, in neighbourhoods and other sociospatially varying living environments”. In the context of this project, the parental home is understood as a microcosm in which children and young people learn cohesion. The focus here is on the long-term effects of parental socialization that continue into adulthood.

Literature

Adorno, Theodor W.; Frenkel-Brunswik, Else; Levinson, Daniel J.; Sanford, Nevitt R. 1950: The Authoritarian Personality, New York.

Glass, Jennifer; Bengtson, Vern L.; Chorn Dunham, Charlotte 1986: Attitude Similarity in Three-Generation Families: Socialization, Status Inheritance, or Reciprocal Influence?‘, in: American Sociological Review51:5, 685-698.

Jennings, M. Kent; Niemi, Richard G. 1981: Generations and Politics, Princeton.

Bisher erschienen

Kroh, M., K. Fetz, J. Jacobsen, im Erscheinen. Neue Partei und rechte Traditionen: Die Unterstützung der AfD aus intergenerationaler Perspektive. In H.U. Brinkmann & K.-H. Reuband, eds. Rechtspopulismus in Deutschland: Wahlverhalten in Zeiten politischer Polarisierung.

Kroh, M., 2020. The formative period of party identification. In H. Oscarsson & S. Holmberg, eds. Research Handbook on Political Partisanship. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Kroh, M., 2012. Die abnehmende Bedeutung des Elternhauses: Intergenerationale Übertragung von Parteibindungen in Deutschland 1984 bis 2010. In R. Schmitt-Beck, ed. Wählen in Deutschland. Politische Vierteljahresschrift. Sonderheft. no.45 Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 210-233.

Kroh, M., & Selb, P., 2009. Inheritance and the Dynamics of Party Identification. Political Behavior, 31(4), p 559-574.

Kroh, M., 2009. The Preadult Origins of Postmaterialism: A Longitudinal Sibling Study. European Journal of Political Research, 48(5), p 598-621.

Kühne S, Kroh M, Liebig S, Rees J, Zick A., 2020. Zusammenhalt in Corona-Zeiten: Die meisten Menschen sind zufrieden mit dem staatlichen Krisenmanagement und vertrauen einander, DIW aktuell, no.49, Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW).

Jacobsen, J., & Kroh, M., 2018. Einstellungen zur Demokratie in Deutschland und im internationalen Vergleich. GWP - Gesellschaft. Wirtschaft. Politik, 67(2), p 233-241.

Lengfeld, H., & Kroh, M., 2016. Solidarität mit in Not geratenen Ländern der Europäischen Union : Ergebnisse einer Befragung des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels 2015, no.83, Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.

Kroh, M., & Fetz, K., 2016. Das Profil der AfD-AnhängerInnen hat sich seit Gründung der Partei deutlich verändert, no.83, Dt. Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.

Arnold, F., Freier, R., & Kroh, M., 2015. Geteilte politische Kultur auch 25 Jahre nach der Wiedervereinigung?, no.82, Deutsches Inst. für Wirtschaftsforschung.