ERIC Number: EJ1449865
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1085-3545
EISSN: EISSN-2164-7992
"Heated, Polarized, and Annoying": The Characteristics and Consequences of Affective Polarization in Independent High Schools
Nora Gross; Ellen Bryer; Charlotte E. Jacobs; Jarvis Goosby
Democracy & Education, v32 n2 Article 5 2024
Affective political polarization, or a sense of political identity-based animosity or distrust, became especially heightened during the Trump presidency. However, we know little about how youth experience such polarization in school and its effect on their political socialization. With unusual access to high-status independent schools, this paper explores the characteristics, consequences, and evolution of affective polarization for adolescents during high school. We draw on open-ended responses to school climate surveys administered at nine schools, 2018-2019, in which many students described experiences of political polarization and partisan hostility present in their schools. These reports of affective polarization increased by students' grade level. Further, we identify consequences of affective polarization on students' political socialization through school-based peer interactions such as threats to social status, lost relationships, and the inability to speak across political differences. These findings illustrate how partisan divisions in contemporary national politics may influence the political socialization of youth in schools and demonstrate the ways schools provide democratic education, separate from any political content in the curriculum, through the social interactional spaces they create.
Descriptors: High Schools, Politics of Education, Political Attitudes, Political Issues, Trust (Psychology), Political Socialization, High School Students, Peer Relationship, Social Status, Democracy, Citizenship Education, Private Schools, Educational Environment
Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road MSC 93, Portland, OR 97219. Tel: 503-768-6054; Fax: 503-768-6053; e-mail: journal@lclark.edu; Web site: http://democracyeducationjournal.org/home
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305B200035