The Benevolent Bureaucrat: Political Authority in Children's Literature and Television

Abstract

textbooks, newscasts, and political documentaries are openly concerned with politics; these have received the most attention from scholars.1 So far, however, scholars have paid less attention to two other media children's literature and "normal" (non-newscast) television. While these media are seldom overtly political, their omission from socialization studies is both curious and unfortunate. Children's books and television are widely read and viewed by children and adolescents. Studies of television viewing suggest that children watch, on the average, 20 to 25 hours weekly.2 Preschoolers watch even more averaging nearly 30 hours weekly.3 Although television viewing is apparently more common than reading, children's books and stories, too, reach a substantial fraction of America's youth.4