The Importance Of Political Socialization

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.

As society rapidly changes with an influx of new ideas and issues, studying the college educated and those who are not will help evaluate behaviors and attitudes towards the government, ultimately, clearing the way to adaption into a modern society that perhaps offer remedies of educational and voting discrepancies or even close the gaps between political ideology or identification. Hence, this paper proposes the research question: How does education level influence political party identification.

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

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

Through one's life one will go through a process which will instill in one's mind how society should work and from then on forward they'll determine what they feel passionate about through situations which they will encounter. This process is known as political socialization and political ideology. In my life the factors which have influenced me greatly is the education system in which I grew up learning in, my family and mass media.

Although the American political culture contains numerous core ideals and values as all American share different views, the vast majority of people support general ideas including equality, liberty, and order. America guarantees each individual political equality, allowing each individual to have their own personal beliefs within the political sphere. However, the environment, combined with the media, has a powerful influence on the views Americans chose to hold. Different generations live through different experiences which significantly shapes the thinking of individuals. Therefore, political beliefs and ideologies form due to the resolutions regarding different conflicts. Even though there seems to be many opposing viewpoints, the American

Political socialization often times begins during childhood; most parents do not consciously indoctrinate their children into partisanship, but they are nevertheless the main teachers of political attitudes. This early identification, according to Hershey, takes hold before children have much information as to what the parties

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

own my own and how I felt about them. They also taught me how to conduct

In this paper I will discuss the matter of the two-party system and the issue of polarization of thought in America. With the system under which we live, political and moral thought is limited by political identity in that individual’s ideas must conform entirely to their thought of their political party otherwise they would be discredited. Non-conformist thought is seen as immoral because to lean too far onto the side of the opposing political party is extremely frowned upon as the other side is seen as immoral. Additionally, each political party is polarized in that the ideals of the party that are presente a the governmental level are extreme, whereas the political ideas of individuals may not be. Because of this, we are only shown the polarized

Growing up, I did not live in a household that was big into politics or political parties. It was never a hardcore democrat or hard core republican, but both of my parents are registered as democrats because of the unions. My mom and dad will vote for whomever they think is the best fit for the position, so naturally, I am not quite sure where I stand politically. So, to better understand, I have decided to interview my grandpa instead. My grandpa is registered as a republican and stands by his viewpoint 100 percent. Growing up, his family, friends, and military service helped to shape his views on how the world should be and why exactly he is a republican. My grandpa is a strong-willed man, who will standby his viewpoints and the viewpoints of other republicans.

148). In essence, every voter has some political beliefs and values that often influence the way he or she views political parties, candidates, and ideals. Some conservative people tend to vote to Republican, while some people tend to vote Democratic. Voters have their own political attitudes, and these attitudes determine how society goes, whom they are voting for, and what kind of political parties they are supporting. Many elements have the ability to contribute the political attitudes, such as family, gender, education, income, religion, age, race, and etc. According to Ginsberg et al., the first place where people start forming their beliefs on politics is their families and society (148). This idea explains the reason some areas in the U.S. have more Democratic representatives while others have the majority of their residents being Republicans. The fact that most people possess these ideals means that in the event that the candidates in a ballot do not have the qualities that a particular group of voters is looking for, these voters will not partake in voting. When the impact of race in political socialization is factored in, it becomes increasingly evident that some people of one race are unlikely to spend their time voting for a candidate who does not represent their beliefs pertaining to racial issues. For instance, African Americans’ perception of the extent of racism is different from that of whites. This has a significant bearing on the motivation of voters from each divide to participate in an election (Ginsberg et al.

Moreover, political socialization contributes into the deciding factor if people will vote. Political socialization is “the process through which underlying political beliefs and values are formed” (5.2). Everyday we, the people, get political messages from either family, our peers, in school, etc. Obviously, most of our influence would come from our family and friends; hence if the people around us are not involved with politics, that can decrease the chance of the person not voting or getting into politics. Whereas...

One of the most controversial topics in the world is politics. George Orwell expresses this thought by saying, “In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics.” All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.” Politics are very prevalent in every human’s life. Many times politicians can formulate and manufacture lies in order to make them seem true. Even the slightest issues in everyday life can be connected back to politics. In many cases, people’s thoughts, opinions, and actions are influenced by the political scene. I believe that Orwell’s claim is supported through examples and ideas conveyed by many authors in their writings.

My first experience with politics was during the 2008 Presidential election. At that time I felt very strongly for Mitt Romney and was deeply saddened by his defeat. Because of this loss, I vowed to take the powers vested in me by the Constitution to make sure the US does not elect Obama, making the same mistake. He is a mistake because I consider him a failure. He has decreased the value of life for many citizens and ruined America’s healthcare system. I have become educated about current events as well as followed the political campaigns, to which I hope will be evident in the next section.