Political Socialization and Ideology - Assignment Example

Political Socialization and Ideology Political socialization implies a process that sees individual become aware of politics and form political beliefs and values. There are various agents that can assist an individual to form his or her political beliefs including family, media, school, peers and community, and general life experiences. A political ideology on the other hand refers to the coherent set of beliefs and values held by individuals or groups on the purpose and scope of government. Political ideologies assist to define an individual’s political typology based on his or her views over a wide range of value orientations. Based on my responses provided on the PewResearch political typology survey I conducted, I am a solid liberal. This typology reflects my belief in the existence of government and liberalism on a wide range of issues. The purpose of the Pew typology quiz is to assist one to understand his or her political typology based on a variety of responses provided. The quiz is intended to classify people based on a wide range of their value orientations rather than the simple basis of identifying with a party or their own self-reported political ideology. The quiz format is based on a set of 20 paired statements where the individual gets to select a statement that reflects or is close to their views. The questions are varied on a broad range of political and social issues. Based on the responses provided, the quiz helps to identify an individual’s political typology by categorizing them into one of the politically engaged groups identified by the PewResearch site. Based on my responses to the quiz, I fall under the solid liberal typology along with 14% of the public (PewResearch Center). My typology, based on my responses is a reflection of my strong pro-government stand and liberal beliefs on a broad range of issues. My demographics do reflect those of the typical person in my typology. The following description matches the demographics of my group. My gender is female, which forms 57% of my typology (PewResearch Center). I identify with the democrat political party. I am from the Northeast region of America. I am also pursuing a bachelor’s degree currently, which holds with the education level of my typology. I do have a passport and I am a first generation American. I do agree with the results of Pew typology based on the responses I provided to the quiz. Individually, I have always considered myself a liberal and the typology quiz helped to further solidify my stance. I am favorable to progressive reform and equality to all. I believe that government does a great job than people give it credit for, and it is vital that for a country’s economy and the best interests of its citizens, government should be present to regulate on a variety of issues (PewResearch Center). I also strongly agree on equal social rights for people from diverse gender, sexual, or racial orientations. I believe that homosexuals are equal human beings and society should accept and accommodate them. Identifying as a solid liberal based on the responses I provided to the quiz is a representation of my system of political beliefs and values. This identification helped me to believe in the political typology quiz results. The demographics provided by the quiz based on my typology are closely accurate. As discussed in the paragraph above, I found the matching demographics associated with my typology quite similar to mine. This was intriguing and interesting as I could associate with the mentioned demographics for the group. However, I am neither highly politically engaged nor read the New York times, which got provided as other characteristics of members within the solid liberal typology. Based on my identification as a solid liberal and the set of beliefs and demographic characteristics encapsulated by the typology quiz, I do believe in the results. Political socialization is a process through which one gets to become aware of politics and in turn form his or her own political values and or beliefs. There are various agents that can assist one to acquire or form political beliefs including; family, media, school, peers or community, and general life experiences. Personally, family, media, and school have had the most impact in helping me to acquire liberal views. I come from a family that is quite liberal with both my parents being staunch democrats. Growing up in such a household, I assimilated various liberal views based on what I witnessed from them. My parents have always instilled in me the beliefs that human beings should all have an equal opportunity and freedom in order to live fully sustaining lives. I further developed my liberal typology by closely following media presentations on political debates. By closely watching televised political debates and reading newspapers as well as various political magazine issues assisted in helping develop a political awareness and conscience. Watching various stands on various political issues helped to provide me with a political conviction that best suited what I believed was right. The media helped to keep me informed and at the same time educate me on political issues. I also developed political awareness by attending school where I got to learn on interesting subjects such as history. From attending school, I further got to understand the political ideologies of the various parties that have existed in the country, and this assisted me in selecting the party that I believed to mirror my political ideologies. A current political issue that grapples the country is the abortion debate. Debate arises on whether abortion should be made legal or illegal. As a liberal, I am of the support that the choice on whether to or not to adopt solely lies with the mother. The woman should have the right to select on all the options available regarding to her choice on whether she will undertake an abortion or not. The woman confers the gift of life to the unborn fetus and she is the one who carries the fetus before birth. This should allow her to have a choice on whether to keep or terminate her pregnancy dependent on what she feels is right for her body. With this stand as a liberalist, I support the pro-choice position when it comes to the debate on abortion. My stance on pro-choice is influenced by my schooling where I got to learn on the rights of an individual conferred upon them by the constitution. Another political issue that also bedevils the country is that of affirmative action. Affirmative action implies the creation of equal opportunity employment for all groups within a society. I fully support the existence of affirmative action. I believe that all groups within a society should be given equal employment opportunity to ensure that they all make a living. Further, affirmative action ensures that there is equal representation of groups within all circles of society and thus even enhance our solidarity as a country. Through affirmative action, every member of a society gets the belief that they can contribute to the success of the nation and feel a part of it. Affirmative action measures also help to correct some historical injustices that got conducted to various minority groups. It allows for equality that is central to my liberal views. My support for affirmative action is influenced by the media portrayal of the discrimination that existed in the country before and how some minority groups suffered economically in the process. The PewResearch typology quiz assists one to learn about their political typology. Based on the responses I provided to the quiz, I found out that I belonged to the solid liberal typology. Members of this typology are strongly pro-government and very liberal when it pertains to a variety of issues. The results from the typology quiz helped me to understand the demographics of members within the various political typologies in the country and know their stand on a variety of political and social issues. Knowing one’s political typology is vital in understanding their value orientations on a broad range of subjects rather than the simple basis of party identification. Works Cited Read More