As part of his study, the academic interviewed students enrolled in institutions between 2009 and 2011 (University of Vermont, University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Adirondack Community College, California Polytechnic State University, Iowa State and Pacific Lutheran University). The questionnaire was based on response scales of 1 to 5, for which 30% of respondents claimed to have lived very well in the Harry Potter universe, and 35% read all the books. Two-thirds of them had read only a few. There were also 45% of respondents who had seen all the movies and 86% who had seen just a few. Respondents were thus consulted about their tolerance, and what they thought of social groups who were discriminated against in the United States (Muslims, African-Americans, immigrants, undocumented immigrants, or homosexuals).
On the whole, those who had read the book obviously had rather positive feelings towards them, demonstrating greater tolerance than those who had not been readers. For the academic, we must also see the will of these generations to act on the world, and fight what could be bad in their daily lives. A form of socialization theory, which would be intrinsically linked to Harry Potter and his fight against Voldemort. The statistics thus show that a reader of Harry will have learned his lesson of the clashes against the evil wizard, and the importance of beating the evil.
The researchers acknowledge, however, that the correlation between political ideas and Harry Potter’s reading / viewing is not evidence of causality. For them, Harry Potter would have had as much impact on these generations as Star Wars for Generation X or the Beatles on baby boomers.The book tells how a national study of 1,100 students was conducted to discover the connections between their political views and the pop culture in which they were rocked. The results of Gierzynski and Eddy’s investigation are important, especially for those who still think that the literary phenomenon was just another trend after the stories of space and before the stories of vampires and werewolves. Indeed, the evidence shows that Harry Potter’s avid readers are more open to diversity and more tolerant, politically speaking, than others. Fans of the wizard would also be less authoritarian, less focused on the use of force or torture and more engaged which I think is extremely important.
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Socialization is a lifelong process in which an individual learns and internalizes the norms and values of the society to which he belongs, and builds his social identity. It is political when it gathers more specifically the mechanisms of formation and transformation of the individual systems of representations, opinions and political attitudes. Political socialization is the result of a constraint imposed by certain social agents, but also of an interaction between the individual and his environment. It is not reduced to the transmission of a national political culture, but leads to the formation of a partisan identity, resulting from the existence of a plurality of cultures within society (class cultures). Partisan ideological identity can therefore be constructed in a confrontational way because of this plurality of cultures. However, while it promotes social reproduction of political attitudes and behavior, it does not eliminate the possibility of adaptation or change of opinion.
Incidental learning (or passive learning) is a type of learning that occurs through unintended acquisition of knowledge. Passive learning is when we avoid to work our brains too hard; when we are moving towards the easiest. Several months of passive learning does not make one progress as desired. Apart from incidental learning from apps, it also comes from movies, books, or listening to the radio or podcasts. It is great to use these resources, but they must absolutely be used in addition to active learning if one wants to progress quickly. Reading Harry Potter made the millennials more politically sensitive and had an influence on their perception of the world and their electoral choices. Fans would be more egalitarian and less easily subject to the authority, the rules it imposes. Their openness would lead them to make less difference between ‘in’ people and the excluded. They are also more skeptical and less cynical than average. Fans defends egalitarian and social causes, as Harry Potter is considered a pacifist activist. Characters who display authoritarian disposition are Voldemort, Dolores Umbridge, and the Minister of the Ministry of Magic.
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by a confiscation of power for the benefit of the government in place, resulting in the absence of elections (or rigged elections), significant police or military repression, a strong limitation of freedoms and the existence of censorship. Looking at activities of a political nature, this type of system leaves individuals with few spaces of freedom within their society. This form of government, far from allowing to think the transition to democracy (in theory) makes more difficult (in practice) the activity of the opponents. Authoritarian disposition relates to the difficulty of mobilizing and, by extension, to oppose an authoritarian mode of government.
I do think the study adequately answered the question of the role of the Harry Potter series on influencing the political attitudes of the millennial generation as the study proves that the adventures of Harry Potter have transformed some of today’s millennials into more open political beings. From the series, it has survived in the adult that we have become little more than an immeasurable love for reading and memories of magical adventures: a bit of courage, intelligence and naivety. The two researchers managed to highlight the evidence of the lasting impact of the saga on a generation of readers. Those who were subjected to a dose, more or less strong, of Harry Potter would describe themselves as people more open to the other, politically more tolerant and open to diversity, less able to resort to the use of force, violence or torture, and above all, politically more involved.
As we know, JK Rowling’s novels, the Harry Potter saga, have hit the collective imagination, with hundreds of millions of copies sold. And it is especially still the generations born between 1982 and 2002 who have suffered most of the storm. And according to the study, this impact has had a real global benefit. Anthony Gierzynski explains that not only the series of books, but also the films, reports, products (video games, figurines, etc.) exerted a healthy influence on the population. In his statement, Gierzynski believes that books have provided ‘new perspectives’, or strengthened those that readers could have. The immersion in the magic world, the identification with the characters, are all points that seem to differentiate Harry Potter readers from those who have not been fans of the series.
