Lecture
5-1
The
Processes of Political Socialization
Political socialization is the process by which
citizens come to think what they think about politics
People learn to repeat behavior patterns that are
rewarded and not to repeat patterns that are not rewarded or that are punished
The
Processes of Political Socialization
Social learning theory emphasizes the importance
of the pattern of subtle rewards and punishments.
Transfer theory holds that patterns of thinking
and behavior developed with respect to one individual or official may be
transferred to another
The
Agents of Political Socialization
The school
The family
Peer groups
The mass media
The
Effects of College
College
tends to liberalize a persons views he may still be a conservative, but
less conservative than before
Bennington College study 1930s
College students today are more tolerant on
major social issues
Political
Ideology
It is an
integrated set of ideas
These
ideas deal with what constitutes the most equitable and just political order
Concerns
of Political Ideologies
The proper function of government
The issues of liberty and equality
The distribution of goods and services
Classical
Liberalism
Liberalism assumes that individuals are mainly
rational and capable of overcoming obstacles to progress without resort to
violence
Roots of liberalism go back to John Locke
Classical
Liberalism
Classical liberalism differs from contemporary
liberalism
Advocates of the former like Thomas Jefferson
and Andrew Jackson believed that government was the chief threat to liberty and
therefore the less government the better
Populism
and Progressivism
In the late nineteenth century populism and
progressivism repudiated classical liberalism by seeing private concentrations
of power, not government, as the main threat to liberty
Government would be the source of political and
economic reform
Contemporary
Liberalism
In the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt,
contemporary liberalism produced the welfare state
Liberals today are usually Democrats and believe
that a strong central government is necessary to protect people from the
inequities of a modern industrial and technological society.
Contemporary
Liberalism
They have turned their backs on an
interventionist, military oriented foreign policy, but support economic aid to
developing countries
Neoliberalism
Neoliberals
believe that liberalism does not respond to contemporary concerns
They
do not turn their backs on Roosevelts New Deal and Johnsons Great Society
They
want government to increase the overall productivity of the American economy,
to reform costly entitlement programs, and to develop more cost-effective
military
Neoliberalism
They want government to increase the overall
productivity of the American economy, to reform costly entitlement programs,
and to develop more cost-effective military
Neoliberalism appeals to upwardly mobile
middle-class voters
