Depictions of Public Service in Children's Literature: Revisiting an Understudied Aspect of Political Socialization

In: Social science quarterly, Band 82, Heft 3, S. 616-632

Abstract

Objective. We revisit earlier studies investigating depictions of public service in children's literature, attempting to answer the question of how public servants are portrayed. Methods. We perform content analysis of 93 books & examine 868 characters for benevolence & competence. Results. We find that public servants are portrayed as no more incompetent or malevolent than other adults in children's literature. On a few dimensions, we find just the opposite. Women in general are portrayed as more benevolent than men, although the same patterns are not found between sexes when examining only those in the public service. Conclusions. If children are developing negative stereotypes of government officials & institutions, these stereotypes do not appear to be formed through their reading of children's literature. 4 Tables, 1 Figure, 1 Appendix, 20 References. Adapted from the source document.