Northern Kentucky University
Popular Culture and Political Socialization of College Students
Institution
Northern Kentucky University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Michael Baranowski
Abstract
Few people would disagree that popular culture figures have played a large role in youth vote efforts with major youth voter awareness campaigns seen from P. Diddy ("Vote or Die"), MTV ("Choose or Lose"), and even the world of professional wrestling (the WWE's "Smackdown Your Vote!"). We believe that the study of popular culture's influence on the political attitudes and activities of college students is both important and very timely. While there has been some previous work done in this area, most notably David Jackson's 2002 book "Entertainment & Politics: The Influence of Pop Culture on Young Adult Political Socialization," we believe this to be an under-researched area with the potential to generate a number of interesting findings.
Popular Culture and Political Socialization of College Students
Few people would disagree that popular culture figures have played a large role in youth vote efforts with major youth voter awareness campaigns seen from P. Diddy ("Vote or Die"), MTV ("Choose or Lose"), and even the world of professional wrestling (the WWE's "Smackdown Your Vote!"). We believe that the study of popular culture's influence on the political attitudes and activities of college students is both important and very timely. While there has been some previous work done in this area, most notably David Jackson's 2002 book "Entertainment & Politics: The Influence of Pop Culture on Young Adult Political Socialization," we believe this to be an under-researched area with the potential to generate a number of interesting findings.