Lecture 6-1

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 Agents of Political Socialization The family The school Peer groups The mass media

Effects of Various Agents of Socialization

The Effects of College College tends to liberalize a person’s views – he/she may still be a conservative, but less conservative than before Bennington College study – Prof Theodore Newcomb 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 Or, that is to say, how should power and economic resources be allocated in a society

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 “The government that governs least, governs best”

Classical Liberalism Classical liberalism differs from contemporary liberalism because how something functions in an agrarian society like will not function the same way in an industrial one. 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 revised 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 Under FDR, contemporary liberalism produced the welfare state Liberals are usually Democrats 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 Roosevelt’s New Deal and Johnson’s 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