ABSTRACT
Political socialization is the process by which the child learns about the political culture in which he lives. The content of what is socialized may well differ from culture to culture or from subculture to subculture. There are several relatively untested hypotheses about the sources of the positive notions children are observed to hold toward the political. A totally different kind of dynamic is implied in the notion of relations with the family as a model for political affect. It is not, however, incompatible with the notion that the family transmits specific value content to the young. Children in the relatively poor, rural Appalachian region of the United States are dramatically less favorably inclined toward political objects than are their counterparts in other portions of the nation. The chapter attempts to realize these desiderata through a study of childhood socialization in the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky.
