Parent–Adolescent Political Disagreement and Adolescent Political Development amid Duterte’s Presidency: A Positioning Analysis

• Main Authors: Gamboa, Lance Calvin L, Carangan, Athena May Jean M, Agida, Julia Izah S
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2022
• Subjects: Political disagreement; adolescents; political socialization; positioning theory; Philippines; Duterte; Family, Life Course, and Society; Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/discs-faculty-pubs/331; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/11033088221086089?journalCode=youa
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Despite its significant ramifications on promoting youth political competence, literature has paid little attention to parent–adolescent political disagreement and the relational dynamics underlying the phenomenon. Our study deploys positioning analysis to examine how Filipino adolescents navigate conflict-filled parent–adolescent political discussions, especially those in relation to President Rodrigo Duterte’s leadership. Interview accounts yield three storylines characterizing political disagreement episodes among participants and their parents: a control struggle storyline, a credibility contest storyline and a moral scramble storyline. Each storyline consists of adolescents and parents adopting competing positions to gain discursive advantages related to their developmental, rational or moral standing. They leverage these advantages towards influencing political opinions articulated within the family space. We conclude with a discussion of our findings vis-à-vis the need to reconceptualize political disagreement as a dynamic process, the interface between micro-level parent–adolescent political disagreement and macro-level sociopolitical discourses and the functions political disagreement serves in adolescent development.