An investigation of a cognitive-perceptual model to measure adolescents' feelings of political alienation is reported. The model hypothesizes that fundamental to the political alienation process is a feared actual or potential loss of freedom; this process is called psychological reactance. The sample consisted of 460 senior high school students…

Acknowledging fears of electronic church critics that audiences will adopt the conservative political messages espoused by evangelical broadcasters, a study was conducted to determine the political and social issues that best predict attendance to religious broadcasts. A secondary analysis was conducted of existing data from a statewide telephone…

The effects of the West German peace movement over the past 30 years have led to the development of a new concept of political participation in that country. Since 1950, a proliferation of protest movements has reflected a wide range of ideological, social, and geographic perspectives. Pacifist Protestants and the German Trade Union began sporadic…

The effectiveness of sex research models which measure adolescents' feelings of political alienation is investigated and discussed and a new model is formulated. The six models include life dissatisfaction, personal depreciation, critical perceptions of political reality, irrational beliefs, perceptions of political threat, and cognitive…

Data collected as part of a larger survey that focused on the 1978 gubernatorial race in New York State were used in a study of political advertising and media credibility. Specifically, the study examined the factors that influence an individual's rating of the helpfulness of political advertising and related these factors to voting patterns. A…

This paper identifies project-based curriculum elements to increase postsecondary students' sense of political efficacy and their political interest, knowledge, and participation. It evaluates factors correlated with low levels of voting and the implementation of registration activities as remedies; it then introduces curriculum elements based on…

Critiques and studies have found the traditional two-step flow model of social influence inadequate to describe and explain relationships between interpersonal and mass communications during political campaigns. A study was undertaken to incorporate a wider range of variables pertinent to both kinds of political communication behaviors to redefine…

This paper proposes that research and scholarship regarding nationalistic education be encouraged in order to increase our understanding of this form of values education. Nationalistic education, defined as those educational activities designed to develop a belief in national values, usually incorporates three dimensions: (1) development of…

This paper presents a brief account, based upon available Chinese materials, of the history of Chinese libraries under communism. The discussion of the effects upon libraries of the changing political, economic, and social conditions of China after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 is divided into four sections: the Young People's…

Linguistic cues evoke prestructured beliefs in people's minds regarding the nature and causes of public problems. Political language can shape people's opinions and thereby shape events. There appear to be two beliefs or myths that people use to explain social problems: the first sees the sufferer as responsible for his own plight in a basically…

The impact of social and political events on the development of political attitudes in children is examined. Political learning is seen as an invariant sequence of developmental stages dependent upon physical and intellectual growth, and current events. The data consist of interviews with children at the third through the ninth grade levels. The…

In the wake of Watergate, this paper purports the need for a new approach to teaching about the American presidency. Traditionally, American government textbooks focus on institutional descriptions and constitutional arrangements of the presidency. This textbook approach to the presidency describes and values a chief executive who is generally…

A short-term cohort design is utilized to examine college students at three different time periods--shortly before the Watergate Committee hearings began, after the hearings ended, and after Nixon's resignation. The purpose of the study is to test the stability of political attitudes under the impact of critical national events. Data for this…

The language in which we discuss public issues and public officials subtly evokes problematic beliefs about the nature of social problems, their causes, their seriousness, our success or failure in coping with them, which of their aspects are remediable, which cannot be changed, and what impact they have on which groups of people. Social cues…

Social studies educators must marshal all creative resources to meet the global, national, and personal challenges that face them as members of the major social studies professional organization, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). Based on a continuation of current policies and lifestyles, dramatic global changes such as…