Intergenerational Continuity and Congruence On Political Values

NU v UMEROUS STUDIES have shown that party identification primarily a measure of an individual's psychological attachment a political party--is the most successfully acquired political value.l There are two reasons for this. First, the party as a referent or object of attachment is more stable, concrete, and central than other political objects. In contrast, opinions on issues tend be weakly interrelated and poorly organized while the issues themselves are often amorphous and short-lived.2 Second, parents the most trusted and revered of individuals in a person's early years are the single most important force in transmitting party identification. Parents introduce children the symbols of parties at a relatively early age and the latter, while still in grammar school, develop party loyalties.3 This allegiance party in the formative years serves aid youth in assimilating values about the government and the political process. As the individual reaches voting age, party identification functions as a central organizing attitude which encourages congruence of attitudes on issues, candidates, and parties. The individual is pressured to conform what he sees as party standards and for all intents and purposes, the task of judging policy alternatives is simply transferred the party.4 The significance of this claim for the controlling influence of party identification for newly enfranchised youth is profound: it means that choice of party, the substantive meaning of the party for the individual and the individual's orientation toward issues are more the products of loyalties derived