Political Culture and Socialization
Read this article on the sources of our political socialization. Before you begin reading, make a short list of five beliefs you hold about politics. These may be specific opinions about a policy or general beliefs about how politics works. What sources of political socialization have influenced the beliefs you listed?
Agents of Political Socialization
People develop their political values, beliefs, and orientations through interactions with agents of socialization. Agents include parents, teachers, friends, coworkers, military colleagues, church associates, club members, sports-team competitors, and media. The political socialization process in the United States is mostly haphazard, informal, and random. There is no standard set of practices for parents or teachers to follow when passing on the rites of politics to future generations. Instead, vague ideals – such as the textbook concept of the "model citizen," who keeps politically informed, votes, and obeys the law – serve as unofficial guides for socializing agencies.
Agents can convey knowledge and understanding of the political world and explain how it works. They can influence people's attitudes about political actors and institutions. They also can show people how to get involved in politics and community work. No single agent is responsible for an individual's entire political learning experience. That experience is the culmination of interactions with a variety of agents. Parents and teachers may work together to encourage students to take part in service learning projects. Agents also may come into conflict and provide vastly different messages.
We focus here on four agents that are important to the socialization process – the family, the school, the peer group, and the media. There are reasons why each of these agents is considered influential for political socialization; there are also factors that limit their effectiveness.
Family
Over forty years ago, pioneering political socialization researcher Herbert Hyman proclaimed, "Foremost among agencies of socialization into politics is the family." Hyman had a good reason for making this assumption. The family has the primary responsibility for nurturing individuals and meeting basic needs, such as food and shelter, during their formative years. A hierarchical power structure exists within many families that stresses parental authority and obedience to the rules that parents establish. The strong emotional relationships that exist between family members may compel children to adopt behaviors and attitudes that will please their parents or, conversely, rebel against them.
Parents can teach their children about government institutions, political leaders, and current issues, but this rarely happens. They can influence the development of political values and ideas, such as respect for political symbols or belief in a particular cause. The family, as an agent of political socialization, is most successful in passing on basic political identities, especially an affiliation with the Republican or Democratic Parties and liberal or conservative ideological leanings.
Children can learn by example when parents act as role models. Young people who observe their parents reading the newspaper and following political news on television may adopt the habit of keeping informed. Adolescents who accompany parents when they attend public meetings, circulate petitions, or engage in other political activities stand a better chance of becoming politically engaged adults. Children can sometimes socialize with their parents to become active in politics; participants in the Kids Voting USA program have encouraged their parents to discuss campaign issues and take them to the polls on Election Day.
The home environment can either support or discourage young people's involvement in political affairs. Children whose parents discuss politics frequently and encourage the expression of strong opinions, even if it means challenging others, are likely to become politically active adults. Young people raised in this type of family will often initiate political discussions and encourage parents to become involved. Alternatively, young people from homes where political conversations are rare and airing controversial viewpoints is discouraged tend to abstain from politics as adults. Politics was a central focus of family life for the Kennedys, a family that has produced generations of activists, including President John F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy.
Figure 6.9 Members of the Kennedy family have been prominently involved in politics for over a century, illustrating how the desire to participate in politics is passed on generationally.
There
are limitations on the effectiveness of the family as an agent of
political learning and socialization. Most families are not like the
Kennedys. For many families, politics is not a priority, as they are
more concerned with issues related to day-to-day life. Few parents serve
as political role models for their children. Many activities, such as
voting or attending town meetings, take place outside of the home.
School
Some scholars consider the school, rather than the family, to be the most influential agent of political socialization. Schools can stimulate political learning through formal classroom instruction via civics and history classes, the enactment of ceremonies and rituals such as the flag salute, and extracurricular activities such as student government. Respect for authorities is emphasized, as teachers have the ability to reward and punish students through grades.
The most important task of schools as agents of political socialization is the passing on of knowledge about the fundamentals of American government, such as constitutional principles and their implications for citizens' engagement in politics. Students who master these fundamentals feel competent to participate politically. They are likely to develop the habit of following politics in the media and become active in community affairs.
The
college classroom can be an environment for socializing young people in
politics. Faculty and student exchanges can form, reinforce, or change
evaluations of politics and government. A famous study of women students
who attended Bennington College
during the Great Depression of the 1930s illustrates how the college
experience can create long-lasting political attitudes. The Bennington
women came predominantly from wealthy families with conservative values.
The faculty consisted of political progressives who supported the New
Deal and other social programs. About one-third of the Bennington women
adopted the progressive ideals of their teachers. Many of these women
remained active in politics their entire lives. A number became leaders
of the women's rights movement.
Figure 6.10 Women at Bennington College in the 1930s became active in community affairs as a result of their political socialization in college.
While schools have great potential as agents of political socialization, they are not always successful in teaching even basic facts about government to students. Schools devote far less time to civics and history than to other subjects that are considered to be basic skills, such as reading and math. The average amount of classroom time spent on civics-related topics is less than 45 minutes per week nationwide, although this figure varies widely based on the school. Students whose exposure to civics is exclusively through lectures and readings generally memorize facts about government for tests but do not remember them or make connections to real-world politics. The most effective civic education programs engage students in activities that prepare them for the real world of politics, such as mock elections and legislative hearings.
Peer Group
Peers (a group of people who are linked by common interests, equal social position, and similar age) can be influential in the political socialization process. Young people desire approval and are likely to adopt the attitudes, viewpoints, and behavior patterns of groups to which they belong. Unlike the family and school, which are structured hierarchically with adults exercising authority, the peer group provides a forum for youth to interact with people who are at similar levels of maturity. Peers provide role models for people who are trying to fit in or become popular in a social setting.
Peer-group influence begins when children reach school age and spend less time at home. Middle-childhood (elementary school) friendships are largely segregated by sex and age, as groups of boys and girls will engage in social activities such as eating together in the lunchroom or going to the mall. Such interactions reinforce sex-role distinctions, including those with political relevance, such as the perception that males are more suited to hold positions of authority. Peer relationships change later in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood when groups are more often based on athletic, social, academic, and job-related interests and abilities.
The pressure to conform to group norms can have a powerful impact on young people's political development if group members are engaged in activities directly related to politics, such as student government or working on a candidate's campaign. Young people even will change their political viewpoints to conform to those held by the most vocal members of their peer group rather than face being ostracized. Still, individuals often gravitate toward groups that hold beliefs and values similar to their own in order to minimize conflict and reinforce their personal views. As in the case of families, the influence of peer groups is mitigated by the fact that politics is not a high priority for most of them.
Media
As early as the 1930s, political scientist Charles Merriam observed that radio and film had tremendous power to educate: "Millions of persons are reached daily through these agencies, and are profoundly influenced by the material and interpretations presented in impressive form, incessantly, and in moments when they are open to suggestion." The capacity of mass media to socialize people to politics has grown massively as the number of media outlets has increased and as new technologies allow for more interactive media experiences. Most people's political experiences occur vicariously through the media because they do not have personal access to the government or politicians.
Since the advent of television, mass media have become prominent socialization agents. Young people's exposure to mass media has increased markedly since the 1960s. Studies indicate that the typical American aged two to eighteen spends almost forty hours a week consuming mass media, which is roughly the equivalent of holding a full-time job. In one-third of homes, the television is on all day. Young people's mass media experiences often occur in isolation. They spend much of their time watching television, using a computer or cell phone, playing video games, or listening to music alone. Personal contact with family members, teachers, and friends has declined. More than 60 percent of people under the age of twenty have televisions in their bedrooms, which are multimedia sanctuaries.
The use of more personalized forms of media, such as text messaging and participation in social networking sites, has expanded exponentially in recent years. Young people using these forms of media have greater control over their own political socialization: they can choose to follow politics through a Facebook group that consists largely of close friends and associates with similar viewpoints, or they may decide to avoid political material altogether. Young people, even those who have not reached voting age, can become involved in election campaigns by using social media to contribute their own commentary and videos online.
Media are rich sources of information about government, politics, and current affairs. People learn about politics through news presented on television, in newspapers and magazines, on radio programs, on Internet websites, and through social media. The press provides insights into the workings of government by showcasing political leaders in action, such as gavel-to-gavel coverage of Congress on C-SPAN. People can witness politicians in action, including on the campaign trail, through videos posted on YouTube, and on online news sites such as CNN and MSNBC. Entertainment media, including television comedies and dramas, music, film, and video games, also contain much political content. Television programs such as The West Wing and Law and Order offer viewers accounts of how government functions that, although fictionalized, can appear realistic. Media also establish linkages between leaders, institutions, and citizens. In contrast to typing and mailing a letter, it is easier than ever for people to contact leaders directly using email and Facebook.
Some factors work against the media as agents of political socialization. Media are, first and foremost, profit-driven entities that are not mandated to be civic educators; they balance their public service imperative against the desire to make money. Moreover, unlike teachers, journalists do not have formal training in how to educate citizens about government and politics; as a result, the news often can be more sensational than informative.