Transcript Chapter 6 Public Opinion and Political Socialization

Chapter 6
Public Opinion and Political
Socialization
Public Opinion
• Often literally no majority opinion
• Usually taken from a sampling
• The politically relevant opinions held by
ordinary citizens that they express openly
• Sometimes well informed and sometimes
not
Measurement of Opinion
• Opinion Polls
1. Include a relatively small sample
2. Estimates populace views based on
sample
3. Sample often chosen at random
4. Sampling errors can occur when not
enough folks are polled
Problems with Polls
1. Sampling errors
2. Questions worded in a biased manner
3. Unfamiliarity of polling sample to
question
•
Used and relied upon in American
Government regardless of any problems.
Political Socialization
• The learning process by which people
acquire their political opinions, beliefs and
values.
• Usually starts in the family
• Lifelong process
Agents of Political Socialization
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Family
Schools
Media
Peers
Political institutions and leaders
Churches
Ideology
• Ideology: a consistent pattern of political
attitudes that stem from a core belief
(example: belief in environmentalism)
• Political ideologies include liberals,
conservatives, libertarians and populists
(see p. 208 of text)
Group Thinking
• Many citizens relate more to groups that
they belong to rather than an ideology
• Examples of groups: church, economic
class, region (Northwesterners), race,
ethnicity, gender, and age.
• Sometimes groups can crosscut.
Political Identification
• An individual’s ingrained sense of loyalty
to a political party
• The United States has a weak two party
system, meaning that Democrats and
Republicans are predominant but other
parties (ex. Green) can exist too.
Public Policy
• Public Opinion can influence policy
• Example: growing discussion on the
environment has lead to an increase in
hearings and discussion on what new
policies need to exist.