political socialization

Examples of political socialization in the following topics:

• Major Life and Political Events

  • Political socialization takes place throughout the life cycle, but major life or political events can also impact political values.
  • Parents appear to be a primary source of political socialization and partisanship.
  • Political socialization takes place throughout the course of a person's life.
  • Major historical or political events, such as September 11th, can impact the political socialization and the formation of political values for an entire generation.
  • Explain how parents, social groups and major life events are sources for political socialization

• Socioeconomic and Racial Demographics

  • Certain groups are socialized to a more active role in politics, while others are marginalized.
  • Wealthier and more highly educated people tend to have more opportunities to be socialized to political values.
  • Education has the strongest impact on participation, as it socializes people to the political system.
  • These groups have not experienced as much political socialization as other groups.
  • There are significant differences in the way that males and females are socialized to politics.

• Forming Political Values

  • People form political values throughout their life cycle through different agents of political socialization, including family, media, and education.
  • Political socialization is a concept concerning the "study of the developmental processes by which children of all ages (12 to 30) and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes, and behaviors".
  • The following agents of Socialization influence to different degrees an individual's political opinions:
  • Children learn political values through political socialization.
  • Explain the agents of socialization that inform the individual's political values

• Models of Political Socialization

  • People learn political values and identities by interacting with other people and the media in a process called political socialization.
  • Moral development is an important part of the socialization process.
  • Teaching people to accept the "rules of the game," as in this situation, is an important function of political socialization.
  • Political socialization involves one generation passing on political values and norms to the next generation.
  • Political socialization does not always mean people are being socialized to accept mainstream political views.

• Political Knowledge

  • Political knowledge, in addition to political socialization and major events, impact the formation of people's political values and opinions.
  • While it is known that agents of political socialization (such as family, peers, church, and school) and major life and political events impact political values and public opinion, some argue that political knowledge plays a large role as well.
  • The formation of public opinion assumes that Americans know enough about political issues to shape opinions based on political knowledge.
  • Some people are that political values are formed as a result of political knowledge.
  • Researching two political candidates, as illustrated in this flyer, help increase political knowledge.

• Interest Groups vs. Political Parties

  • Social movements are a type of group action.
  • They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues.
  • In other words, they carry out, resist or undo a social change.
  • Political science and sociology have developed a variety of theories and empirical research on social movements.
  • For example, some research in political science highlights the relation between popular movements and the formation of new political parties as well as discussing the function of social movements in relation to agenda setting and influence on politics.

• Conservatism

  • Conservatism is a social and political philosophy that supports retaining traditional social institutions and has many modern variations.
  • Conservatism, taken from the Latin word conservare ("to retain") is a political and social philosophy that promotes retaining traditional social institutions.
  • They believe strongly in traditional values and politics, and often have an urgent sense of nationalism.
  • A social conservative wants to preserve traditional morality and social mores, often through civil law or regulation.
  • Social change is generally regarded as suspect.

• Why Politics Matters

  • From the political economy to political philosophy, politics determines "who gets what, when, and how" for all citizens.
  • It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" as well as the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.
  • Political science is the study of politics.
  • Like all social sciences, political science faces the difficulty of observing human actors who can only be partially observed and have the capacity for making conscious choices unlike other subjects such as non-human organisms in biology or inanimate objects as in physics.
  • IWW poster "Pyramid of the Capitalist System"(c. 1911), depicting an anti-capitalist perspective on statist/capitalist social structures.

• Leadership

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of an unofficial leader of a social movement--the Civil Rights Movement was a diffuse political movement, not a discrete organization, but King became the figurehead of the movement through his charismatic and influential leadership.
  • Interest groups with organized media campaigns may be led by political strategists.
  • Interest groups that attempt to influence policy by changing public opinion may be led by political strategists, who are often consultants familiar with public relations, advertising, and the political process.
  • Political strategists are responsible for determining a campaign plan.
  • A social movement is group action aimed at social change.

• The Traditional Political Spectrum

  • The traditional political spectrum models different political positions by placing them upon a left-right geometric axis.
  • The traditional political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions.
  • In left-right politics, left-wing describes an outlook or specific position that accepts or supports social equality, often in opposition to social hierarchy and social inequality.
  • In left-right politics, left-wing describes an outlook or specific position that accepts or supports social equality, often in opposition to social hierarchy and social inequality.
  • In left-right politics, right-wing describes an outlook or specific position that accepts or supports social hierarchy or social inequality.