Political Socialization

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that political socialization is the process through which individuals acquire the information, beliefs, attitudes, and values that help them to understand the workings of a political system, and as part of the process, adopt some of the beliefs, attitudes and values. The author points out that the importance of the process lies in the fact that the beliefs and the values of the people are the basis for a society's political culture, and such culture defines the parameters of political life and governmental action. The paper states that some people argue that people having similar social background, income or education levels, a common religion, race or gender share largely similar political views; hence, political socialization is more of an innate rather than a learned process.

Table of Contents
Background
What is Political Socialization?
Importance
Factors Influencing Political Socialization
Family
Schools
Peer Groups
Mass Media
Arguments that Political Socialization is an Innate Process
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Apart from family and schools, peer groups play an important role in imparting political values of young people. Influence of peer groups in the process of political socialization is more pronounced when an issue directly affects the youth. A pertinent example of this is the issue of the Vietnam War during the 1960s. At the time, young people were the most active participants in the movement against the war since they were directly affected by it being made to fight in the war that was taking a large toll of lives. It is generally agreed, however, that youthful peer groups have greater influence on the lifestyle and dress as compared to politics."

More papers on Political Socialization:

• Essay # 58121 : "The Process of Political Socialization"
• Term Paper # 111829 : "Political Socialization"
• Analytical Essay # 7570 : "Political Socialization"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: