Political Socialization - Essay Example

Tea Party Movement and the Occupy Wall Street Protest Political socialization refers to a life-long process that attributes its shaping effect to contributions by individuals and institutions. Political socialization enables individuals to get a good understanding of the political attitudes and behaviors. It takes place both at the individual and group level and goes beyond the acquisition of political attitudes and behaviors to include the learning and understanding of more advanced political ideologies.

Some of the most common topics encountered here are Occupy Wall Street and The Tea Party Movement.Occupy Wall Street is a grassroots movement, mostly composed of young citizens and it is funded by volunteers around the world. They do not depend on corporate sponsorship and their main aim is to fight for the right of the oppressed many. One of the slogans they use to air their grievance is “I am 99% and I have a voice”. On the other hand, The Tea Party is an Astro Turf of people with corporate sponsorship and the members are usually in mid life or above 60 years.

According to Gitlin (2011), Occupy Wall Street protests grew tremendously in October 2011 especially in Manhattan triggering comparisons with The Tea parties. Joe Biden explained the Occupy Wall Street protests as expression of grass root frustration by Tea Party Members. According to him, the protests were brought about by the breech of bargain that resulted to unfair levels of incomes. In his article “The Left Declares Its Independence”, Gitlin (2011) postulate that the “We Are The 99%” chant words that were used by Occupy Wall Street protesters was directed to the country’s 1% rich, that is composed of ‘financial predators and confident gamers’ who crashed the global economy without concern for anyone.

The statement “We Are The 99%” was synonymous to The Tea Party; it clearly exposed the intense differences. Both the Occupy Wall Street and The Tea Party abominated the elite but their goals and passions, which acted as their driving forces clearly differed. Most Tea Party members follow Amy Kremer’s idea that there exists an overlap between their movement and Occupy Wall Street. According to Brendan Steinhauser of freedom works, a Washington based group that runs national wide networks for The Tea Party “off-shoots”, Tea Party came into existence as a result of the opposition to the Occupy Wall Street bail-outs in the year 2008.

According to Kibbe (2011) in an article in the Forbes Magazine, the Occupy Wall Street is in dire need of comparison with Tea Party, as this will enable them to get recognition. According to him, the following are features that separate Occupy Wall Street from Tea Party; first is that the Occupy Wall Street protesters sometimes resort to violence and take pride in having aggressive resistance to law behaviors. Secondly is that lack respect toward the public and private properties and finally the Occupy Wall Street does not have an orderly guiding philosophy.

He goes further to say that as opposed to Occupy Wall Street, Tea Party members always apply for permit before holding their protest and corporate with the law enforcing entities. Occupy Wall Street protesters are notorious for their invasion style of protest were they just show up and occupy busy streets like the case of the Manhattan protests, taking advantage of local business’s bathrooms. Kibbe (2011) concluded by asserting that Tea Party members are united by the commitment to values that are based on freedom, responsibility and respect for all properties as opposed to members of the Occupy Wall Street who are united by a common rage against the successful few members in the society.

From the facts above, it is imperative that Tea Party members have the required framework of addressing their grievances in accordance with the law as opposed to Occupy Wall Street protesters. While members of Tea Party may have diverse opinions on various issues, they are united by common purposes that include less government involvement, lower taxes and finally freedom.ReferencesKibbs, M. (2011, October 19). Occupy Wall Street is certainly no Tea Party. The Forbes Magazine, 1-2.Gitlin, T. (2011, October 8).

The left declares its independence. The New York Times, Sunday Review, 4.Pilkington, E. (2011, October 7). Occupy Wall Street: tea party leaders admit similarities but not too many. The guardian, 2.