What is Socialization

							What is Socialization?

  • Socialization is the process by which
    people learn to adopt the norms,
    values, attitudes, and behaviors
    accepted and practiced by the ongoing
    system
  • This process may be similar for many in
    many areas but vary significantly in
    other areas (general to personal)
Political Learning

  • Four Processes of Learning:
         1) Politicization- when children become aware
    of the existence of governmental authority (also
    refers to political socialization)
         2) Personalization- when a child begins to
    admire political figures
         3) Idealization- identification of political
    authority as generally benevolent and trustworthy
         4) Institutionalization- child becomes aware
    of the different divisions of government
The Actors in
the Socialization Process
  • Parents- the attitudes and predispositions of
    the parents, and the level of political interest
  • Formal Education- teachers and school
    curriculum
  • Religion- denominational theology and
    political ideology
  • Social Networks- groups and individuals
    that one associates with
  • Media- agenda setting and priming
Parental Influence

  • Studies indicate that parental
    transmission of party identification is
    much more prevalent than the
    transmission of positions on specific
    issues.
  • Why do you think this is the case?
Educational Influence

  • Curriculum seems to have little effect
    on levels of participation, but it may
    have an effect on political ideas. Can
    you think of any?
  • What effect do you think the pledge of
    allegiance may have?
  • What about history classes?
Religious Influence

  • Are churches political?
  • How does this influence socialization?
  • Is religious political socialization
    stronger than other types of
    socialization? Why?
Social Networks

  • The influence of one’s peers may be
    stronger depending on how political
    one’s parents or other influences were
  • Attitudes may evolve as social networks
    change over time
Media Influence

  • Agenda-Setting- rather than telling us
    what to think the media tells us what to
    think about
  • Priming- choosing which issues to
    emphasize
  • Framing- depicting the story in a way
    that assigns responsibility for the
    problem
   Questions to Think About
Concerning Jennings and Markus

• What is the primary research question?
• What is special about the data?
• How do they try to answer the
  question(s)?
• What are the findings?
• How might some of the influences other
  than parental influence play into the
  socialization of party identification?