Political Socialization Political views are often influenced, developed and shaped by many aspects such as family, friends, school, and the media. Everyone has their own views whether it was taught or learned. That experience can either stick with you or one can begin to form their own views outside of what they are taught. To begin with, my political view began to be influenced by friend and family during my adolescence year. Your home is the first place where political socialization is formed because our parent’s political views are what we accept and believe. Every night I would watch the news with my family and we had a lot of discussions about what just saw in between. I would listen to conversation my parents had and watch CNN with my …show more content…
Listening to the radio, watching television, reading the news papers and surfing the internet, these were a few of many resources that were available to me. The internet has so many resources and books that you can read that will expand you knowledge. As I mentioned earlier in my paper, my dad would have me watch CNN with him occasionally because he wanted me to be aware and learn things. My parents were always big on expanding your knowledge so they always told me to read, read, and read every day. They invested in a two different kinds of newspapers everyday and they still do till this day. The Daily News and The New York Post are both one of the most popular news papers that are read by many. I would often open the newspapers and there is always a section I would go to that covers the latest news. It’s usually the most trending toping that are slapped across the front cover of the page or the first 3-4 pages that captures my attention. On another note, social media is a form of socialization that may not be as reliable but helps me stay up today with what is going on in the world. A lot of news channels are on Facebook now so they post videos, breaking news and they even go live and steam live footage of news reports. I am out the house from 7:30am-9:30pm so I am not always near a television, Facebook sometimes keep me updated until I get home to actually watch the news. A lot of times I would find out what is …show more content…
Political socialization not only helps people find their group identity, it also influences how a person views politics. At a young age I was introduced to the general idea of politics which was shaped and influenced the most in school and by the media. In my case I formed my own view outside of my parents because what I was taught in school stuck with me and allowed me to form my
When it comes to my political beliefs, I am indecisive between being a Republican or a Democrat. The reason for this, is because I never really showed enough interest into learning more about politics. As for my politically ideology, I feel that I am more liberal than I am conservative. In theory, ideology is defined in two ways, “(1) Organized set of political attitudes based on underlying principles”, and “(2) a cohesive set of beliefs that form a general philosophy about the role of government” (McAtee). An Individual’s political ideology can be formed from public opinions and agents of socializations (McAtee). According to the quiz I took on “Politopia.com”, the results showed that I was “Centerville”, which means that I am in between of being a Democrat or a Republican, or that I support both sides and yet oppose to both sides.
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.
Party identification is the political party that an individual categorizes them self with. Political parties came about as a way to organize citizens with similar beliefs and attitudes. These parties then attempt to influence the government by electing members into office. Today there are two main parties people can identify: Republican and Democrat. There is also a third choice, being an Independent, but for the purpose of this paper this group will not be recognized as a political party. These reasons will be discussed later. There are many different theories as to why people do or do not identify with a political party, including social psychology, issue related, and psychological attachments. I believe the social psychology theory has the right idea. Sociology is about studying human society and how it develops and functions. So, it makes sense that social factors would have a big impact on whether we identify with a political party or not.
People always tell you that there are two subjects never to bring up at a dinner party, one is religion and the other is politics. Why is that? It is because both subjects invoke very strong emotions. Rather than saying something inappropriate, most people avoid talking about religion altogether. But get those same people in a room and ask their political opinions, that is a different story. For many reasons, people are vocal about their political beliefs (Bentz, 2013). Unfortunately, individuals will judge people by their political beliefs first, without notice to other important aspects of their lives. And that is the reason that politics is not brought up in dinner parties.
The most important groups is our family, family is a big factor because kids tend to “absorb” the political views of their parents as they grow-up with them. Social media is another big factor because young people spend a lot of their time in social media platforms and they are becoming more aware of the different issues of society and how it can affect them, also teens are exposed to the different opinions that people have and then they are able to form their own political view. The last big factor that can influence a person’s political views is race. Race is a big factor because, been part of this social group gives a person unique experiences as to how people from other races treat them and this may make them aline with the political party that can help them have better opportunities in the
In America we have two main political parties the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, each with different point of views. Democrats are labeled as liberals and the Republicans are considered conservatives. Neither of the two parties are made up of people who totally agree with everything the party stands for. Both parties disagree on three major issues abortion, same-sex marriage and universal health care. I found that my beliefs, ideas and views tend to lean more towards the Democratic side, and will be focusing on supporting the democrat party on these three main issues in association to civil rights.
This is what should be the case for most people. People will believe in some things a politician is saying when it comes to what interests the individual or individuals he or she is trying to reach. Some politicians actually do care about what is good for the country and the people in it. The politician would try his or her best to hear the concerns of all people, not just those who he or she wants to be seen with. The politician would try to make good changes for the country and not try to revert it back to its old ways. Things like this is what will draw people into picking a political party. People really need to be informed about this because it could end up shaping a person’s whole perspective on the party system the United States of America has in place. It may allow people to think a little bit more freely and see what party they want to be affiliated with. This all depends upon how the parties look to him or
From the beginning of time people practiced an idea of political culture; the “setting of attitudes and practices held by people that help shape their political behavior including moral judgments and ideas that makes for a good society” (Sparknotes). American political culture is based on the basic ideas of political culture, in that American political culture “subscribes to general ideas including liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and diversity; although not all Americans share the same values, a vast majority abide by this idea” (Sparknotes). Our founding fathers based the U.S Constitution on the idea of political culture in trying to make good for society, the founding fathers wanted to develop a system that tailored to
Every day, whether it is through our families, classes, churches, regional location, workplace, or the media we obtain unique views on how we feel the world should work in politics. Personally, during my lifetime these factors of political socialization, or the process of becoming politically aware, have led me to become a very liberal person for the majority of political issues. There is one view of mine that tends to lean toward the conservative side, but other than that from abortion to welfare I have a liberal ideology. My experiences with my close-knit family, conservative population at school, and the media are the largest influences that have shaped me into who I am today, and why I have these strong views on economic and social
Such factors are their educational background, socioeconomic status, gender and other demographics. There will be a definite difference between a person who has an excellent academic background and a person who does not have such qualification. In the same way, socioeconomic status of a person also decides how well a person engages politically (Riedel and Sullivan, 2001). For instance, an individual who comes from a very lower class will not pay heed to political system of the country because his basic concern is to feed his children and family. His priorities will be different from a person who has all basic necessities. In the same way a middle aged person who has an adequate knowledge and experience regarding the political system of a country and a young person who is just an amateur will have significant differences of political attitudes and political efficacy. So attitudes and experiences also affect the political efficacy and ultimately the voting behaviors of the individuals (Sheerin and Celia Anne, 2007). Mass Media is one of the tools to build these attitudes and political
Political scientists distinguish between two types of political polarization, popular polarization and elite polarization. Popular polarization is when polarization occurs in the electorate and general public and elite polarization occurs in political elites, such as party organizers and elected officials. Both opinions and policy positions are characterized by strict faithfulness to party lines. Popular polarization and elite polarization can occur at the same time or independently. The central issue in the study of political polarization is investigating the relationship between the two. Political scientists have identified a variety of causes of political polarization, including political parties, public political ideology, and the media.
Politics is one of the most debated topics in the country today. With the wide variety of values present in America, it is bound to be a difficult topic to discuss. I’ve grown up in a family of democrats with religiously republican grandparents. Considering myself an Independent leaning democratic, I can usually calmly talk politics with my family. This year’s election has made any conversation surrounding politics toxic to my family and creates a large argument of one side or the other and no in between.
I feel that, for the most part, mine along with others in my age group’s concerns are not addressed by the political process. To answer this, I took a look at political socialization and how I was socialized politically. Some of my concerns include: minimum wage, social security, pollution and global warming, school loans, and legal ages. There are many reasons why, that I understand, that my generation’s opinions of these issues are not addressed, which I will talk about throughout this paper. Overall, the political process does not address our concerns and voices.
(Ibid9-11). Political socialisation begins early on in life and is an ongoing process affecting individuals throughout. It is how people eventually identify personal beliefs and expectations. These political views can include our level of patriotism, faith in democratic System, standards by which we hold governing bodies, and opinion regarding public policies from the classroom, the office, to the dinner table. Much of our life affects our political opinions.
The study of politics is an essential part of our everyday experience and can be simply defined as a universal activity, although there is no universal consensus regarding such definition. Indeed, there are many interpretations of what politics actually is, and with disagreement come dispute. Of these interpretations, there are four main collectives: politics as the art of government, which is the traditional viewpoint; politics as public affairs which interprets politics being associated with public life (which itself is hard to define) and focuses on the state institutions; politics as compromise and consensus, where importance significantly gravitates to the way in which decisions are made; and finally politics as power, and power as the