Abstract
In order to investigate the opinion-making process, this article studies the categories that children use for describing and judging the specialized political universe. It shows that categorizations unable children both to understand and judge the political universe: information and judgments are inseparable. This implies that children take judgments about politics as incontestable truth, just as if they were factual information. The article also shows that the categories that children use in order to understand and judge the political universe depend on their political competence, which varies according to their social background. Children's political opinions can rely on very simple categories (especially the opposition between "good" and "bad" people), which are sometimes accompanied by some arguments (in particular the "racism" category). Some of the most competent children also use the right-left opposition, which is both a sign of and a tool for a sophisticated understanding of the political world. The categorizations that children use in order to understand politics are thus unequal, because they give them unequal ability to justify and assert their opinions.