Political Socialization
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
…show more content…
As one matures, a certain peer groups reinforce beliefs. Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, in her book Spiral of Silence, explains individuals inherently fear social isolation from peers and are apprehensive of speaking out against group ideas (Patterson 161).
Religion appeals to one's sense of affective socialization by encouraging puritan values and morals supported by the church. The highly inviolable issue of abortion parleys condemnation by the Catholic Church against the advocating for women's rights by pro-choice groups. Catholics, while the strongest advocates, do not stand alone on this issue, as many religions preach abortion is the murder of a child. By relating a medical procedure to murder, people are emotionally affected, and instead of thinking rationally, resort to emotions to defend their stance.
Schools are another important faction in delivering affective socialization, but also deliver instrumental socialization to America's youth. Elementary classroom instruction is generally where children receive their first concrete lessons on the American political system. Teachers perform the important civic duty of instructing young Americans in political history, general laws and rights, and patriotism. Take for example the Pledge of Allegiance, recited across the nation in elementary classrooms.
Day-in and day-out, children are ingrained with a
Most people are exposed to the same principals and agents of political socialization. Families spread values that support political authorities and can heavily contribute to children's initial political ideological views, or party preferences. Families influence political knowledge and identification depending on variables such as family demographics, life cycle, parenting style, parental level of political skepticism and frequency of political discussions. Demographics such as gender and age also attribute to political socialization. School is another agent of political socialization. Spending numerous years in school, children in the United States are taught and reinforced a view of the world that their text books tell them to trust. Through primary, secondary and high schools, students are taught key principles such as individual rights and property, personal responsibility and duty to their nation. Another is mass media. Mass media is not only a source of political information; it is an influence on political values and beliefs. Various media outlets, through news coverage and late-night programs, provide different partisan policy stances that are associated with political participation. Religions, beliefs, and practices play a role in political opinion formation and political participation. The perspective offered by religious institutions shape judgement regarding public policy, and political decision
I have not had much interest in politics until recently. Before last year, I did not care for anything related to politics; I thought that it was all boring and had little to no affect on me on a personal level. I am more interested in politics nowadays. I know better now that it does affect me and I should care about it. I had learned about the concepts of political socialization, party identification, political tolerance, political trust, political efficacy in government class and how they affect my political beliefs. My personal political belief has been shaped into what it is today and is still being shaped because of those six concepts.
A lot of things have played a role in my personal political socialization. Political ideology is the places where you have informed your beliefs from. The first example of where I get my personal political socialization is from my family. Second I have influence from my location in the U.S.A. Finally I get influence from Narragansett High School which is the school I currently attend. That is where I received my personal political socialization from.
Political socialization, in simple terms, is the lifelong process by which people learn political attitudes and behaviors. People begin to form their own ideas about politics and begin to acquire political values. There are four distinct groups that play a role in political socialization, that being; family, peers, educational systems, and the mass media. Being constantly around your family, especially parents, can impact your perception on politics and how you react to the idea of politics. Parents occasionally place a personal belief or comment to their young child while helping them with their homework or having a family discussion at the dinner table. This personal belief or comment being something related to politics. These family discussions
Have you ever thought about why you have the political beliefs and values you do? Where did they come from? Are they simply your own ideas and experiences or have you been influenced by others in your thinking? This process by which individuals acquire their political beliefs and attitudes is called political socialization. In another words, Political socialization is a concept where the study of the developmental processes by which children and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes and behaviors. What people think and how they come to think it is of critical importance to the stability of the government. The beliefs and values of the people are the basis for a society's political culture and that culture defines the
Most, if not all, of the political beliefs are manifested during childhood; and are immensely influenced by not only parents, but through media, religion, education, and peers. The parents tend to pass along heritage and tradition, and often link their family name with a political affiliation (Republican or Democrat). Education introduces children to politics and the election process through class elections and courses in government; and by debating issues that affect the schools such as funding and curriculum requirements. The media has become a primary source in educating children through constant news programming, and shows addressing contemporary issues relating to politics such as abortion, crime, and the economy. Peer influence within social groups , though with a limited impact, further contributes to the development of political attitudes by concentrating on common interests focusing mainly on lifestyle issues. Organized religion continues to have an impressionable influence in guiding political thought through religious practices and beliefs; and has traditionally had a strong impact in forming political views in accordance with their respective doctrine.
In the United States, per year, twenty million unsafe abortions and sixty-eight thousand deaths from them occur, (Odyssey) while the average death risk for a safe abortion is less than .01 percent. An illegal and unsafe abortion should never result as the last resort, but it tends to because of a lack of access to safe ones. Morals, usually drawn from religious beliefs, tend to play a part in one’s opinion towards abortion. More than three fourths of Americans consider themselves as Christians. This means that more than three fourths of Americans believe that it is morally wrong to undergo an abortion and a person should not hold the right to take someone else’s life away. While a moral belief, based on religion, is something all people are free to have,
Even though many people practice pro-life because of their religion, it may be surprising to learn that catholic women are 29% more likely to get an abortion than Protestant women, though they are as likely as all women to do so2. In Christianity abortion has been considered homicide since Pope Sixtus V declared it so, but the debate didn’t become heated until the 19th century1. So even these pro-life supporters sometimes find the circumstances where abortion is necessary. An example of a situation where you may see this is in a given situation where bearing a child and giving birth would kill the mother because of health issues or womb complications the fetus would have. It’s said that the risks of death associated with childbirth is 10 times higher than
When one takes a good look at our society, it is clear that it is purely dominated by the messages that are constantly fed to us by the media. The media is so powerful that a majority of people do not even realize that it affects them in any way. In fact most people are convinced that they are completely unaffected by it. One of the reasons that the media is so powerful is because of the cycle of socialization. The cycle of socialization can open ones eyes to why our society has specific views of people from other cultures, races, and genders.
the process of political socialization and its influences on public opinion, we will see that more
Whether you believe you have political socialization or not, you have some form of an opinion towards the politics that take place around the world. My socialization is definitely influenced by my race, religion and family. What has probably influenced me most is my family and race. I’m originally from California which in the political world is considered a very open and liberal state. The majority of my family are very open so classifying them as democrats is appropriate. The huge thing I’ve always heard when I was growing up was “Be free to make your own decisions and live the way you want to be.” When same-sex marriage was legalized in all 50 states back in 2015, I did see the republican views that a few members had come to play. My great-
The most important factor is family. Family is the primary agent of political socialization. This is how people come to understand what they are going to believe about different political issues.
Political socialization is a concept that shows the development of children and adolescents who attain political cognition, attitudes, and behaviors. Political socialization routinely begins in children. There are multiple factors that influence the political socialization of citizens. Research theorizes that family and school teachers are the most influential. Recent research also states that media plays an important role on influence as well.
Georgia is the nation’s number one producer of the three Ps: peanuts, pecans, and peaches. This home-grown Georgia peach was produced in the suburbs just North of Atlanta and South of the chicken coops in Alpharetta. Being a product of my environment, I could embody the stereotypes bestowed upon me at birth. However, I have yet to master following procedure and broadening your perspective to other cultures and ideas is more entertaining to me than sitting on a lumpy, sun-kissed couch on your cousin’s porch off a gravel back road waiting for the cicadas to come out. The guidance and discipline instilled into my youth through family and friends, region and media exposure has greatly affected the way I choose to perceive the world. Other factors such as religion has yet to hold a heavy presence in my life based on my family’s viewpoint.
To demonstrate the necessity of a political society, Hobbes uses the state of nature as a device, by presenting the intolerable state of permanent conflict in a pre-political society.