The Pathways of Parental Socialization

This research examines two pathways of family influence in the socialization process. The attitudinal pathway is based on direct interpersonal value transfer and is the major source of parental influence for partisanship, racial attitudes, and other core beliefs. The socialmilieu pathway represents the effects of social characteristics shared between generations and is the major source of parental influence for political efficacy, political knowledge, and civic tolerance. Based on the workings of these two pathways, we conclude that socialization research is too concerned with simple comparisons of the amount of parent-child agreement. Greater attention to the nature of specific beliefs and the means of influence is necessary to understand and explain the socialization process.