‘If I were prime minister’: Political attentiveness in young children’s drawings

Stine Johansen Utler

doi:10.37291/jces.721

Authors

Stine Johansen Utler Norwegian University of Science and Technology 0000-0001-9307-1083

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37291/jces.721

Keywords:

Political socialization, Childhood, Political attentiveness, Political issue interest, Drawings

Abstract

The present study investigates how children (6–9-year-olds) express political attentiveness through drawings, based on the prompt: What would you decide if you were prime minister for a day? The study explores which political issues children are engaged with and attentive to, and how they relate to individual versus collective concerns. The sample consists of 196 drawings, analyzed thematically, with attention to age and gender. The findings show that children display political attentiveness by articulating a wide range of decisions, from personal wishes to broader societal issues. The most salient variation lay in whether the children’s decisions served themselves, a collective, or others beyond themselves. Gender differences were notable: girls more frequently emphasized collective well-being and social justice, whilst boys often prioritized individual desires and self-empowerment. These findings suggest that gendered orientations toward politics may emerge earlier that previously documented. Although not necessarily indicating higher political attentiveness among girls, the results point to divergent orientation from an early age.

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