Since a couple of years there are increasing demands for the expansion of political rights for children and youth and a strengthened inclusion of the latter groups in democratic decision-making processes. There are hardly any up-to-date research findings, however, that can help to understand if these claims are justified and how successful democratic citizenship evolves at the beginning of the 21st century. Recent political socialization research focuses almost exclusively on the orientations of teenagers and adolescents, even though the literature seems to agree on the assumption that politically relevant orientations and attitudes are acquired early in the life span. The study of younger children’s political involvement underwent a development from “growth stock” (Greenstein) in the 1960s to a “bear market” (Cook) ever since, partly due to methodological problems, but partly also due to the influence of Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral development. The proposed paper argues, however, that it is essential to look at the beginning of socialization processes within the youngest citizens if we want to shed further light on the processes underlying the development of democratic citizenship. Normative and cognitive orientations play a crucial role in the political development of children. Especially at a young age, “pre-political” attitudes like moral autonomy and social orientations are linked with political socialization processes. This assumption is supported by recent studies in developmental and moral psychology which draw a picture of young children as morally competent actors. The paper wants to shed light on young children’s democratic understanding in the context of a re-examination of political socialization research. Empirical analyses of children’s “conceptions of the desirable” (Kluckhohn) with regard to social rules and norms as well as their political cognitions reveal latent structures which can be meaningfully interpreted. The paper concentrates on the role that the main socialization institutions at a young age – family and school – play in the development of these orientations. The paper’s empirical analyses draw on panel data of the German project “Learning to Live Democracy” funded by the German Science Foundation. The study includes data of about 750 children at the beginning and at the end of their first school year which were questioned with a specially developed standardized questionnaire, as well as the children’s parents and teachers. The findings can contribute to the above mentioned discourse about a broadening of children’s political and civic rights and are meant to trigger a discussion about a re-orientation of civic education in primary school.
