Partisan Stratification

Over the past three decades, the distance between parties has continued to grow steadily. As their distances increase it has become harder for presidents to receive votes from both parties.

Political socialization begins early on in life and is an ongoing process affecting individuals throughout. It is how people eventually identify personal beliefs and expectations in American politics. These political views can include our level of patriotism, faith in the democratic system, standards by which we hold governing bodies, and opinions regarding public policies. From the playground to the classroom, the office to the dinner table, much of our lives affect our political opinions. The most easily identified agents of this are family, schooling, peers, mass media, political parties and religious influences. Furthermore, these means indoctrinate us in the political society through four basic

However, there is a competing explanation of the Party Polarization phenomena. These political scientists believe that the reason there is Party Polarization in our culture is not because of the way the districts are drawn, but is due to the way people organize themselves. Individuals are “segregating themselves by choosing to live in liberal or conservative geographical areas” without very much influence (372). This behavior is called self-

Partisanship is defined in The American Voter “as both a set of beliefs and feelings that culminate in a sense of “psychological attachment” to a political party. It is one of the most important factors affecting the American political system. It explains, to some extent, vote choice, political engagement, partisan reasoning, and the influence of partisan elites. This definition generates two competing views of partisanship, the instrumental and expressive perspectives. This debate is what

People who have a strong attachment to either the Republican Party or Democratic Party are considered Partisanship. Before political parties were established during the election of 1800, everyone was considered an Independent voter. Independent voters have increased over the last three years due to a lot of people not liking how the country is being run. The government shut down, being labeled, and Obamacare are three examples of why people are starting to turn away from political parties. Independent voters make up a third of the voting public and are increasing.

Singer, Matthew. "Elite Polarization and the Electoral Impact of Left-Right Placements: Evidence from Latin America, 1995-2009." Latin American Research Review 51, no. 2 (April 2016): 174. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 12, 2016).

Political Socialization in definition is formed by the ideas and beliefs that individuals develop over time that help mold their attitudes and values about our national government. In fact, most individuals that form their political values are heavily influenced by their family, classmates or coworkers in many cases. Individuals truly only know what they are taught at a young age until they are mature enough to develop and maintain their own thoughts and beliefs about our administration. It would be fair to say that I was molded in to a democrat for most of my young life and that was the extent of my political opinion for a number of years. Nothing more than stating what political party I belonged to and who to vote for when the election took

When distinguishing the difference between Ideology and Partisanship, the concepts of Political Socialization, Party Identification, Political Tolerance, Political Trust, Political Efficacy, and Ideology all help in providing you with a better understanding. There are many agents of socialization including: individuals and institutions, family, school, peer groups, and mass media. In each individuals decision to follow a political socialization, they should always consider what may be building their stand point. In class we discussed how family was the leading factor in kids decisions to follow a political socialization because most kids our age like to mirror our parents. Many agents such as family and peers pass down their beliefs to passive young subjects and this is how we begin to learn.

The high levels of party identification shown in the Australian political model distinguish Australia from many other established democracies in the world (McAllister, 2011). Party identification (PID), or partisanship refers to a long-term affective attachment to a political party (Marks, 1993, 138), a phenomenon that has largely been in decline across established democracies (McAllister, 2011, 43). Australia has been largely unaffected by the global trend of PID decline due to the stability inherent in the Australian political system (McAllister, 2011, 42), a phenomenon maintained by electoral institutions that are widely accepted in Australia, namely compulsory voting and frequent elections. These two factors contribute to the primary

Many intellects will argue that family is one of the most important agents in regards to political socialization (cite). This comes as no surprise, as children we are incapable of making rational decisions for ourselves. Thus, our parents and family members are tasked with making the best possible choices for us instead. In fact, as children we want to please our parents so we are receptive to their views, this includes political beliefs. (Stockwell, Chapter 6: Public Opinion, Political Socialization, and the Media.) Furthermore, our family can also have an effect on how we view politics in our future. Studies show “Children whose parents

Political attitudes are held about political figures, government policies, and policy proposals. At the same time, political attitudes shape judgments of social groups, such as women, His-panics, and seniors. Cognition and affect are also influenced by political attitudes, as exem-plified by stereotypes, prejudice, and emotions. Agents of political socialization include fam-ily, education, peers, media, religion, race and ethnicity, gender, age, geographical region, and social class. Political attitudes function to provide knowledge about the self and others, shape beliefs and values, maintain self-esteem, prompt action, and predict actions in self and others. Political attitudes are more than just attitudes; they are a means by which social iden-tity is formed. Group attitudes, the growth of partisan media, core values, and individual predispositions shed light on the polarization of the two major political parties in

Because of the scope of political socialization, it is widely studied. Political socialization can be described as learning procedure. People living in a society have different learning levels so Political Socialization can be “measured by the certain qualities of behaviors of different people”. The yardsticks by which Political Socialization can be measured are described below.

With attention to, political socialization is mainly shaped during our childhood, people continue to shape their political views throughout their lives. Being that family is the most political influence through our lives we always look to them when we are confused or questioned amongst politics. For example,

Parent’s role in influencing the attitudes and ideas of their children is substantial in their development. This influence will aid in their children’s development by instilling certain values and characteristics that are similar to their parents. However, do parents ultimately dominate in shaping the political views of their children? Like other values such as sharing and responsibility, is politics passed along in the same way? In this paper, I will answer the following questions: What role does socialization play in predicting a young person’s political attitudes? Do young people mirror their parent’s political

For the two final replications, BIRG is studied beyond competition between teams in a sporting context. The first study to be discussed carries competition into the dynamics of political affiliation during national elections (Boen et al., 2002), and the last study going further by considering peer relationships and affiliative identity (J. K. Dijkstra et al., 2010).