Janet Lin

AP US GOV
Chapter 6: Political socialization
I. Public Opinion
a) politically relevant opinions held by the citizens
b) verbal, phone opinion poll; nonverbal, vote or protest
c) important influence on gov but does not determine what officials do
d) American's political opinions shaped by several frames of reference, such as partisanship, ideology, and group
attachments
e) process people acquire political opinions: political socialization
II. Political Socialization
a) opinions form in response to events, issues, and problems that catch interest
b) Ex. US military intervention in Kosovo and Iraq; Democrats supported 1st war (when Democrat Bill Clinton was
president) an Republicans supported 2nd war (when republican George W. Bush was president)
c) political culture: deep seated beliefs of a certain group of people
d) 2 characteristics of political socialization
1. people's outlooks are influenced by childhood learning
2. effect is cumulative, opinions grow firmer with age
e) agents of political socialization:
1. primary agents: interact closely and regularly w/individual, usually early in life like family
2. secondary agents: interact less commonly, usually later in life like coworkers
II. Primary Socializing agents
a) family
1. stay with them all throughout life
2. some people are republicans and democrats simply because their parents supported that group
b) school
1. elementary school teachers praise national heroes such as George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.
2. high and middle school teachers emphasize nations greatest moments such as the world wars
3. Pledge of Allegiance
c) religious organizations can influence children attitudes on and beliefs on society's obligations to the poor and
unborn
III. Secondary Socializing agents
a) peers, friends, coworkers
1. individual tend to not like holding opinions too different from others
2. The Spiral of Silence: individuals tend to hold opinions similar to those around them
b) mass media
1. Ex: heavy exposure to crime on TV can lead to people thinking society is more dangerous than it really is
2. agenda-setting effect=tendency of people to assign importance to topics emphasized by the media
c) individuals with authority
1. in America, greatest authority figure influence is the president
2. ex: 9/10 citizens supported Bush's actions to invade Afghanistan; however, when he lead the nation to the
unnecessary and costly Iraq war, he lost many supporters.
IV. Party Identification
a) person's ingrained sense of loyalty to a political party
b) not formal membership but emotional attachment
c) selection perception: process where people selectively choose from incoming information those aspects that
support what they already believe
1. Republicans and Democrats watch the same candidates but see different thing
2. the same candidates can be perceived to be both strong or weak
d) democrats and republicans hold contrasting views; ex: 2009 Pew Research Center poll stated that 77% of
Democrats and 46% of Republicans said that government should provide more assistance to the poor

Janet Lin
AP US GOV
V. Political Ideology
a) people have it if they hold a coherent set of beliefs
1. ex: farmers are the most likely group of people to oppose government benefit programs for economically
vulnerable, yet support farm subsidies>>their opposition to government assistance disappears when they are
the recipients
2. no more than a fourth of Americans have opinions consistent enough to be political ideology
b) economic liberals: people who believe gov should play significant role in distribution of economic benefits
c) economic conservatives: people who believe that gov should leave distribution of wealth and economic benefits to
workings of free market
d) cultural liberals: those who leave lifestyle choices to the individual such as gay marriage and abortion
e) cultural conservatives: those who would use gov to promote traditional values; ex: no gay marriage
f) liberals want more gov action; conservatives want less
g) libertarian: someone who believes the gov should refrain from intervention in economic market and individual's
lives
h) populist: someone who wants gov power to achieve economic redistribution and to uphold traditional values
i) minority of citizens are true ideologues, but ideological tendencies are a way of how American think of the gov;
ex: Americans wanted gov to assist economically disadvantaged after the 2008 U.S economy tailspin but wanted
less gov action during Reagan's term
VI. Group Orientations
a) Religion
b) Economic Class
c) Region
d) Race and Ethnicity
e) Gender
f) Generations and Age
g) Crosscutting Cleavages
VII. Public Opinion Polls
a) primary method for estimating public sentiment; however only a few individuals (sample) are interviewed
b) random selection=probability sampling
c) problem: under/over representation
1. stay home mothers underrepresented
2. business workers during 5'o clock rush hour overrepresented
d) accuracy expressed in terms of sampling error (degree to which sample estimate might differ from actual
population opinion); greater sample=smaller sampling error
VIII. Problems with Polls
a) Telephone numbers
1. many do not have phones or refuse to participate, leading to decrease in accuracy
2. refusal rate has increased over the decades
b) Unfamiliarity
1. accuracy decreased when respondents are asked about an unfamiliar issue
2. they still reply in order to appear informed but their responses are considered non-opinion
c) Question and Ordering
1. if people are asked their candidate preference at the beginning of the survey,it might be different from if they
were to say it at the end