Parents and children: communist mindsets reflected in the primary political socialization of young people in Romania today

Abstract

The young generation today in Romania seems to prove certain disengagement towards the political field: this is the premise of the present article. We are aiming at an explanation of this observation we have already confirmed in a previous study. The article focuses on the importance of the family political socialization, more precisely on the parents-children relationship concerning the transmission and reproduction of political knowledge as well as attitudes and behaviours between the two generations. We argue that the generation of the parents, born and raised under communism and having received a political education according to the regime's ideology, might have influenced the young generation's political attitudes, in spite of a post-communist resocialisation that would have taken place. The primary role of the family political socialization is also a matter of interest and a hypothesis that seeks to be proven. In support of the arguments the article mobilizes the literature mainly on socialization, political socialization and communist education, as well as a sum of interviews made with parents and children, with a comparative purpose.