Task 4 - POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION

process through which individuals acquire political beliefs and values, and by which these are transmitted from one gen to the next

• primary agents - family and school • secondary agents - workplace, peer groups and media MEDIA GAINING POWER! (media corps are major glob players)

• characterized by regualr patterns of social interaction -> social structure • sense of connectedness: mutual awareness + cooperation • industrialization -> powerful factor in shaping structure and character of modern societies (urbanization) economicalli based class divisions!

• distribution of wealth and resources conditions the state of power • social divisions + conflicts help bring pol change (legitimation crises) • influences public opinion and pol culture • social structure shapes pol behavior: who votes, how do they vote, who joins parties…

• post-industrial societies: society based on service industries • process of industrialization (decline of labor-intensive heavy industries) • fostering of more individualistic and instrumentalist attitudes • growing atomism: tendency for society to be made up of collection of self-interested indiv • information society PRODUCED MORE PLURALIZED CLASS FORMATIONS

• thinning of social connectedness • econ individualism: belief that indiv are entitled to autonomy in econ matters • incresed anomie: weakening values linked with isolation and loneliness Why? DECREASE OF SOCIAL DUTIES AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY + GROWTH OF EGOISM

–> according to liberals - mark of social progress - expansion of choice and opportunity - widened sphere of personal freedom - decisions on self-definition - spread of social reflexivity: tendency of indiv to reflect, on the conditions of their actions MORE SELF-AWARENESS

–> a style of politics that seek to counter group marginalization by embracing positive and assertive sense of collective identity

• seeks to challenge oppression • reshapes group’s identity through process of pol-cultural self-assertion • group marg operates through stereotypes and values developed my dominant groups -> structure their image • subordination can be challenged by reshaping identity -> sense of pride and sel-respect

cultural diversity: 1. liberal multiculturalism • pluralist multiculturalism • cosmopolitan multiculturalism

• liberal multiculturalism - committment to freedom and toleration - ability to choose own moral beliefs and way of life

• pluralist multiculturalism - cultural diversity - based on value pluralism - no single conception of right and wrong - equally legitimate conceptions - focuses on unequal power relations

• cosmopolitan multiculturalism - endorses cul diversity and identity pol - diversity as positive on the grounds of what each culture can learn from each other - acceptance of multiple identities

religion - secularism: belief that religion should not intrude into secular affairs - seen as potent means of regenerating personal identity - secularization -> importance of private/public divide - secularization thesis: theory that modernization is accompanied by the victory of reason over religion - moral relativism: condition in which there is a deep and widespread disagreement of moral issues

gender and identity - feminism: equal rights and social equality

race and ethnicity - consciousness raising - strategies to remodel social identity - emphasis on pride, self-worth

pattern of orientations to pol objects such as parties, gov, and the constitution, expressed in beliefs, symbols and values

• participant pol culture • subject pol culture • parochial pol culture

where citizens pay close attention to politics regard pop participation as desirable + effective

characterized by passivity among citizens recognition that they only have limited influence on gov

marked by absence of sense of citizenship identification with locality, not nation no desire nor ability to participate in politixs

• civic- culture approach • marxist approach • bourgeois approach • conservative approach

civic culture: set of specific attitudes crucial to success of modern democracies • participation of individual with community • set of beliefs and values vital to make democracy work • blend of participant subject parochial drawback: - if system is good/bad it should not be measured by participation - pol culture treated as homogeneous -> little attention to pol subcultures

-> ideas, culture part of ‘sueprstructure’ conditioned by econ base • culture is class-specific: - members of a class are more likely to share values and beliefs NOT THE CONSCIOUSNESS BUT THE EXISTENCE THAT DETERMINES CONSCIOUSNESS • emphasis on degree to which ideas of ruling class prevade society - gramsci’s hegemony: spiritual/cultural supremacy of ruling class - culture, values and beliefs as form of power