POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION

Political Dictionary:
political socialization

The process by which people come to acquire political attitudes and values. Socialization in childhood has been extensively studied. Children first acquire warm feelings towards authority figures who might appear in fairy stories (such as queens and princesses). Similarly warm feelings to elected officials (presidents, prime ministers) emerge later, party identification later again, and something like a reasoned ideology not until well into the teenage years. The earliest socialization is believed to be the deepest. Therefore one's awareness of one's sex and ethnicity precedes anything more directly political. Each layer of socialization colours those that come afterwards.Critics of socialization research make a number of points:(1) There have been too few studies of children whose family position and early experiences might be expected to put them at odds with the values of most people in their society.(2) Socialization research cannot by its nature tap false consciousness or any other way in which dominant values may be inculcated without the subjects of it being aware of it.(3) Party identification is not necessarily a reliable guide to voting, or political attitudes. Sex and ethnicity are genetically determined; political attitudes are not.



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Wikipedia: Political socialization
Political socialization is a concept concerning the “study of the developmental processes by which children and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes and behaviours” (Powell, 2003, p. 20).
The process through which an individual acquires particular political orientations; the learning process by which people acquire their political beliefs and values.

Agents of Socialization
These Agents of Socialization all influence in one degree or another an individual's political opinions: Family, Media, Friends, Teachers, Religion, Race, Gender, Age, Geography, etc. Most political opinions are formed during childhood.

Factors
The agents a child surrounds him/herself during childhood are crucial to the child's development of future voting behaviours. Some of these agents include:
Family: Glass et al (1986) recognises family (1) as a primary influence in the development of a child’s political orientation, mainly due to constant relationship between parents and child
Schools: most influential of all agents
Mass Media: Becker et al (1975) argue that the media (2) functions as a political information-giver to adolescents and young children.
Religion:
Political Parties: Scholars such as Campbell (1960) note that political parties (3) have very little direct influence on a child due to a contrast of social factors such as age, context, power, etc.
Work Place:

References
L.B. Becker, M. M. (1975). Family traditions. In S. C. (ed), Political Communication: Issues and strategies for research (pp. 126-139). New York: Praeger.
Campbell, C. M. (1960). The American Voter. New York: John Wiley.
J. Glass, V. B. (1986). Attitude similarity in three generational families: Socialisation, status inheritance, or reciprocal influence? American Sociological Review , 685-698.
Powell, C. (2003). Political Socialisation: The development of Political Attitudes. In C. Powell, Political Campaign Communication: Inside and Out (p. 20). Birmingham: University of Alabama.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by