Political Socialisation and Parental Values in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

The present research addresses the question of whether the political socialisation of one's youth is related to personal values during adulthood and how such acquired values in turn influence one's socialisation ideals for the next generation. Specifically, it examines the content of societal mandates of the People's Republic of China as conveyed in the mass media during the 1950s and early 1960s and the expressed values of a group of parents who grew up during that period, experienced the Cultural Revolution during their late teens and early twenties, married during the post-Cultural Revolution period, and had a child in daycare or preschool in 1981 and 1982. The mandates of political socialisation was assessed by content analyses of an official youth magazine published during the 1950s and early 1960s. Parental values were attained from responses to a 1981-82 parent questionnaire. The results were examined within the societal contexts of the two periods under study. The findings indicate that parents of this study, on the whole, expressed values that differentially reflect the content of political socialisation of their youth. Moral and work/study values, particularly those that are rooted in traditional China and those that were apolitical appeared in the lexicon of values during adulthood, whereas the political values mandated by the leadership of their youth were absent from the parents' lexicon of values. Included in the lexicon of parental values were items that were not linked to any of the values of the 1950s and early 1960s era but appear to reflect the changing context of contemporary China. The societal changes in the 1980s People's Republic of China appear to have also influenced parents' expectations for their children.