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Journal Article 1: Ojeda, C., & Hatemi, P. K. (2015). Accounting for the child in the transmission of party identification. American Sociological Review, 80, 1150–1174. doi:10.1177/0003122415606101

The transmission of party identification from parent to child is one of the most important components of political socialization in the United States. Research shows that children learn their party identification from their parents, and parents drive the learning process. The vast majority of studies thus treats children as passive recipients of information and assumes that parent-child concordance equals transmission. Rather than relying on a single pathway by which parents teach children, we propose an alternative view by focusing on children as active agents in their socialization. In so doing, we introduce a two-step model of transmission: perception then adoption. Utilizing two unique family-based studies that contain self-reported measures of party identification for both parents and children, children’s perceptions of their parents’ party affiliations, and measures of the parent-child relationship, we find children differentially learn and then choose to affiliate, or not, with their parents. These findings challenge several core assumptions upon which the extant literature is built, namely that the majority of children both know and adopt their parents’ party identification. We conclude that there is much to be learned by focusing on children as active agents in their political socialization.

Journal Article 2: Pilcher, J. (2011). No logo? Children’s consumption of fashion. Childhood, 18, 128–141. doi:10.1177/0907568210373668

In this article data are presented on children’s appraisal of clothing retailers and brands, and how this interacts with their identity and social contexts. In exploration of some of the meanings and processes surrounding children’s consumption of branded or labelled clothing, two case studies of child consumers are profiled: one who actively consumed designer-label clothing, and another for whom it held limited significance. It is argued that children aged 12 and under knowingly and skilfully use their consumer knowledge in the reflexive presentation of their selves, or their own ‘me’, but that these practices are structured by their place in the social and generational order.

Journal Article 3: Gordon, H. R., & Taft, J. K. (2011). Rethinking youth political socialization: Teenage activists talk back. Youth & Society, 43, 1499–1527. doi:10.1177/0044118X10386087

This article draws from the experiences and narratives of teenage activists throughout the Americas in order to add a needed dimension, that of peer political socialization, to the larger political and civic socialization literature. The authors argue that although the existing literature emphasizes the roles and responsibilities of adults in shaping young people’s civic capacities, the roles that young people play in socializing each other for political engagement is underexplored. Based on two qualitative studies of teenage activists throughout North and Latin America, the authors argue that teenage activists, who are largely left out of this literature, represent a different process by which youth engage in politics. We use teenagers’ narratives about their own youth-led political socialization to extend the existing theorizing on youth civic engagement, rethink some of its core tenets, and elucidate the roles that young people themselves play in the processes of political socialization.