When did you understand the actual meaning of politics? Who explained this term to you? Where did you gain your knowledge about political parties? Obviously, we do not think about such questions, because we think that we have always known about the organization of the government, duties and functions of our President. Of course, it is not right. We have spent much time to form our knowledge about various political issues. There are many factors, which have helped us develop and improve this knowledge. I will write about the most important of them.
Political socialization is a complex process. It is very difficult to form your own opinion about politics; therefore, your point of view is influenced by the range of factors. Family is the primary factor, which influences our political ideas. Every child copies and follows his parents’ behavior and shares their values. When your father enjoys football, you enjoy it too, because your father possesses the highest authority. When your father says that he is a Democrat or a Republican, you support one of these parties too, though you do not understand the slightest difference between them. When your uncle says that his business suffers from enormous taxation, you believe him. You begin hating taxation, though you do not know about it at all. With the run of time, you obtain knowledge about the definite politicians and their parties. You get to know about the laws dedicated to migration and healthcare funding. Of course, you receive this information from your family. Very often, every dinner turns into a political debate between the members of the family. They discuss domestic and foreign policy and you absorb this information too. Most often, the entire family shares common political values. They support the same party and vote for the same candidates. It is possible to say that political socialization begins in a family.
The second factor is school. When young people attend school, they broaden their outlook and background knowledge about political issues, equality and liberty. They study history, economics, law, geography, literature, etc. and they form their own opinion about the surrounding world. Young people begin to analyze various historical events and evaluate the usefulness of the definite laws. Consequently, a young person is able to say whether she supports the policy of the current government or not. Very often, her opinion is completely different from the political preferences of her parents. Naturally, school education can depend on a teacher. When a teacher is a Republican, he will advertise this party eagerly. Therefore, it is hard to say that political socialization at school is objective. Children are influenced by their teachers and mates.
Another factor is mass media. It will not be a mistake to claim that this factor is very powerful. Every politician tries to advertise his own personality with the help of mass media. When his name sounds on TV, he is popular and up-to-date. When we turn on the TV, we will see a great number of political TV shows, which demonstrate different politicians from all sides. They argue and shout at each other all the time and it is hard to understand who says the truth. Then, everybody knows that many politicians spend much money on advertising. Although these ads are not always truthful, they are shown on TV and in the Internet. Of course, millions of people watch these ads and believe them. Consequently, their mind is formed by the Internet, TV and radio.
In conclusion, political socialization is a complex process, which consists of many elements. People gain knowledge about politics and its components in their families, at school, at the workplace and with the help of mass media. Naturally, all these components work together in order to form your point of view about political issues.
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