Political socialization is a process by which people learn and give their political lens explaining their reasons for how power is arranged and how the world around them should be handled. These beliefs, in turn, have an effect on defining and shaping people definitions of who they are and how they use the power; they have in political and economic institutions in which they live in. Political socialization also describes the way people acquire skills and values that shape their political lens and ideology[1]. Ideology is termed as the notion of developmental acts by which people of all adolescents and ages acquire political attitudes, cognition, and behaviors. Ideology may also refer to a learning process which peoples wire behaviors and norms that are acceptable to a well running political system from one generation to another. It is through political socialization and ideology that people are inducted towards the political culture and the contributions towards political objects are formed. Below are major agents of political socialization[2]:
Agents of socialization
Agents of socialization are also described as the institutions that work in harmony to influence and shape people political and economic ideologies and values. Such institutions include Media, families, peers, school, work, religions and legal systems.
1. Family: Family is the first agent of socialization; this is because families perpetuate norms and values that support political authorities, which can have a great impact on children’s political ideologies perception, or party affiliations. Families have an impact on political identification, knowledge, efficacy, and participation that depends on a number of factors such as family demographics, parenting style, life cycle, parental level of political cynicism, life cycles and frequent political discussions.
2. Media: Mass media is not an agent of political socialization but also a source of political information; it has a major impact on political values and beliefs. The various media outlets through media channels such as newspapers, radios, televisions among others provide partisan policy stances that have an impact on political participation[3].
3. Schools; Whenever students spend several years in school, they are taught and reinforced on a number of political values such as competitive individualism, democracy, capitalism, and ownership. Children have to pass through the level of stages such as primary, secondary and high schools where they are taught fundamental principles such human rights and freedom, personal responsibility and duty to their nation[4].
4. Political parties: Political parties have a direct influence on children due to a number of reasons such as context, power, and age among others.
5. Religion: Religions norms and beliefs play a significant role in the shaping public opinion and political participation. The moral perspectives and theological ideologies offered by religious institutions have an impact regarding public policy, which directly translates to major political decisions making on governmental matters such as redistribution of equality, wealth, limits for individual freedom, tolerance for deviance, the severity of offenders punishment, wealth, gender roles, policies relating to family structure and the value of the human life.
6. The state: The state is a major source of information towards the media outlets, as a result, it has the ability to guide, misguide the press, which leads to the press misinform the public at large, a strategy known as propaganda, in order to continue in a political or econmic agenda.
Media‘s effects
a) In children
Political socialization starts in childhood. Families and school teachers are the most influential agents in socializing children. However, recently, media has a high influence in the political socialization. It is evident that most young children spend a lot of time a week consuming social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as well watching television and listening to radios[5]. Young children spend more than 32 hours a week on social media. These social media sites are influential in forming their opinions and attitudes about war, economics, race, and patriotism to social media much more than their teachers, friends, and families. It is fair to say that young children who spend more mass media compared to others show a greater understanding of values such as free speech[6]. It may be argued that most of the content young children consume on mass media may be intended for adults audience[7].
b) In adulthood
Political socialization through mass media plays also plays an important role in adulthood through both factual and fictional media channels. Adults are more exposed to news and political directions embedded in entertainment; fictional entertainment is the most prevalent source of political ideologies. The accumulation of political information that is gained from entertainment gradually becomes the values and norms by which people judge.
Conclusion
There are many agents of political socialization such as families, schools, political parties and mass media among others. Political socialization by the mass media is a lifelong process in which peoples basic values are not easily altered. People may choose the information they are exposed to base on their already known values. As results, they use this information from the mass media to reaffirm on the political ideologies they already believe. This shows that mass media attention to an issue has a major impact on public opinion.
[1] Patterson, T. (2011). We the people. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[2]Patterson, T. (2011). We the people. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[3] Patterson, T. (2011). We the people. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[4] Patterson, T. (2011). We the people. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[5] Patterson, T. (2011). We the people. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[6]Patterson, T. (2011). We the people. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[7] Patterson, T. (2011). We the people. New York: McGraw-Hill.
