Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Julie Wronski
Second Advisor
Jonathan Klingler
Third Advisor
John Bruce
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This thesis examines the political socialization experienced by Generation Z. With the twenty-first century of American politics characterized by intensely negative emotions, affective polarization, and the augmentation of social media as a means to communicate and engage politically, this thesis argues that the modern political environment has led to a “hot” political socialization. The primary objective of this research was to measure political socialization, and explore the effects of this on current engagement, emotions, trust, and polarization within Generation Z, as well as how the cohort potentially differs from previous generations. The research for this thesis was conducted through the use of an online survey to undergraduate and graduate Generation Z students at the University of Mississippi.
Current political engagement for the subjects is primarily predicted by the peer socialization environment, rather than the home environment as previously established in the literature. Subjects also reported significantly more intense negative emotions, and less intense positive emotions, towards politics than their parents modeled during socialization. The subjects’ trust in government was best predicted by negative emotions, with parental disappointment being the strongest. The subjects were not found to exhibit a significantly different level of polarization than their “most influential person(s),” however there is evidence that they may potentially be less polarized due to their colder feelings towards all partisans. The findings of this study support the notion that Generation Z has experienced a “hot” political socialization, unlike previous generational cohorts, and recommends further research to better understand these differences.
Recommended Citation
Seibel, Audrey E., "Political Socialization in Generation Z" (2025). Honors Theses. 3247.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3247
Creative Commons License
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Included in
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