What is Political Socialization?

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What is Political Socialization?

• What do we do when we socialize?
• How are people affected by those they socialize
  with?
• How would we be affected politically by those
  we socialize with?

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Political Socialization - process by which
parents and others teach children about values,
beliefs and attitudes of political culture

• Agents or Influencing Factors of Political
  Socialization
• Family
• Religious Institutions
• Community rural v. urban, North v. South, etc.
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Class
• Level of Education
• Media
• Teachers
• Peer Group
• National Identity
• Gender

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The Political Spectrum

• Where do you stand?

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What is a Continuum?

• A persons views on the issues help determine
  where they fall on the political spectrum.
• The labels used on the spectrum are not pure
  categories, but they make up a continuum, or
  value line, and citizens and politicians fall
  somewhere on that line depending on what they
  believe.

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Factors That Determine Placement

• Two major factors shape political views.
• The first is how much change a person is willing
  to have within their society and government.
• The second deals with how much government
  involvement in the economy a person calls for.
• Others also bring in the question of how much
  freedom from government authority a leader is
  willing to give the people.

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Political Spectrum

• Radicals These individuals on the extreme left
  favor basic change accomplished through any
  means, even revolution.
• Liberals These individuals favor peaceful
  reforms.
• Conservatives These individuals prefer to leave
  things as they are.
• Reactionaries These Individuals on the extreme
  right favor a return to things as they were in
  some earlier, and presumably better, time.
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The Political Spectrum
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• Liberals are on the left side of the political
  spectrum and tend to favor progress and
  reform/change.
• Conservatives are on the right side of the
  political spectrum and tend to favor tradition
  and limiting change.
• Moderates are in the middle and tend to have
  views that are between these two positions,
  perhaps with some views on one end of the
  spectrum and other views on the other end of the
  spectrum, dependent on the issue.

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• There are limitations to the one-line spectrum
  when determining political ideology for an
  individual.
• In reality, there are two spectrums
• Social/Political Spectrum
• Economic Spectrum
• Because there are really two spectrums, many
  ideology surveys label a significant portion of
  those who take the test as moderate because they
  are measuring standards from both spectrums, yet
  trying to place it on one spectrum.

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• Social and political liberals favor limited
  government regulation of individual behavior.
• Examples
• Favor protection of offensive language.
• Oppose censorship of film, music, etc.
• Pro-choice abortion stance.
• Oppose government sponsored religious activity.
• Favor protection of homosexual rights.
• Favor affirmative action programs.

• Social and political conservatives favor broad
  government regulation of individual behavior
• Examples
• Oppose protection of offensive language.
• Favor regulation of film, music, etc.
• Pro-life abortion stance.
• Favor government-facilitated religious activity,
  particularly in school.
• Oppose protection of homosexual rights.
• Oppose affirmative action programs.

Extreme Anarchy
Extreme Fascism, Theocracy
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• Economic liberals favor broad government
  involvement in economic policymaking and
  regulation of business.
• Favor higher taxes, particularly progressive
  (based on income level).
• Programs assisting the poor such as Medicaid and
  Head Start.
• Redistribution of income (welfare social
  security).
• Anti-trust legislation.
• Sympathize with labor in Labor-Management issues.

• Economic conservatives favor limited government
  involvement in economic policymaking and
  regulation of business.
• Favor lower taxes, particularly regressive (flat
  tax, sales taxes).
• Fewer programs with the goal of redistributing
  income (private charitable assistance invest own
  money for retirement).
• Oppose government regulation of market choices.
• Sympathize with business in Labor-Management
  issues.

Extreme Socialism, Communism
Extreme Laissez-Faire, Monopoly
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• If you are like many Americans, you may tend to
  be more conservative on some issues and more
  liberal on others.
• The limitation of one spectrum is that this
  circumstance will generally place you in the
  middle, which is not necessarily an accurate
  reflection of your ideology.
• Remember, all of this discussion takes place with
  a base understanding and consensus on the social
  contract and modern liberal political thought.
• People on every point on the spectrum generally
  want what is best for the countrythey just
  differ on how to achieve it.

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Govt. Control
Conservative
Totalitarian
Libertarian
Liberal
Govt. Control
Economic Issues
Freedom
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• Liberal
• Support for greater government control/regulation
  in economic matters and less government
  control/regulation of individual matters.
• Libertarian
• Support for minimal government control of both
  economic and social issues

• Conservative
• Support for less government control/regulation in
  economic matters and greater government
  control/regulation of individual matters.
• Totalitarian
• Support for complete government control of
  economic and social issues

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• Favor loose construction a broad interpretation
• Constitutional interpretation may change as
  modern society evolves
• What are our standards today?

• Favor strict construction a narrow
  interpretation
• Constitutional interpretation should remain
  constant through the years
• What did the founders mean?

Liberal
Conservative
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• Favor tradition over change

• Favor change over status quo

Liberal
Conservative

• Rights of the Individual are more important

• Rights of the community are more important

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Voter A I worked my way up from poverty to
become the successful business owner I am today.
I get frustrated when I think that my tax money
goes to support people who wont help themselves.
I think part of the blame belongs with the media
they promote all the wrong values.
Voter B I really dont care what other people
do in their free time, as long as they dont
bother me. I sure dont like it when the
government tells me what to do with my money or
in my own home Im certainly not going to turn
around and do the same thing to my neighbors.
Ideology?
Ideology?
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Voter C I really worry about the state of the
world today. It seems like more and more kids
are growing up in poverty and theres no one
there to help them. I think we need to do more
toward providing healthcare and education
programs for our young people.
Voter D These days, you cant be too careful.
I think we need to spend a lot more money on the
national defense. I wish there was a police
officer on every corner! The police could search
my car all they want, since I dont break the
law. I also think the government should crack
down on the media their reporting gives our
enemies an inside look at all our military
preparations.
Ideology?
Ideology?
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Govt. Control
Conservative
Totalitarian
Most people will fit somewhere within the
parameters of this circle.
Libertarian
Liberal
Govt. Control
Economic Issues
Freedom
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• In response to many requests, not only from
  Americans, The Political Compass has charted the
  most prominent names in the 2008 US Primaries.
  They have been evaluated through scrutiny of
  public statements, manifestos, interviews and,
  crucially, voting records. Our apologies for
  those not included.
• It is important to recognise that The Political
  Compass is a continuum rather than consisting of
  hard and fast quadrants. For example, Ron Paul on
  the social scale is actually closer to Dennis
  Kucinich than to many figures within his own
  party. But on the economic scale, they are, of
  course, far apart.
• When examining the chart it is important to note
  that although most of the candidates seem quite
  different, in substance they occupy a relatively
  restricted area within the universal political
  spectrum. Democracies with a system of
  proportional representation give expression to a
  wider range of political views. While Dennis
  Kucinich and Mike Gravel are depicted on the
  extreme left in an American context, they would
  simply be mainstream social democrats within the
  wider political landscape of Europe. Similarly,
  Hillary Clinton is popularly perceived as a
  leftist in the United States while in any other
  western democracy her record is that of a
  moderate conservative.
• Source www.politicalcompass.org

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Source www.politicalcompass.org