Professor Mac Only
Chapter 6
Public Opinion & Political Socialization
Chapter Learning Outcomes-
By the time you finish reading this chapter, you will understand the following better
Identify ways we measure public opinion through polling
Analyze the quality of public opinion
Identify & examine individual & collective actions and evaluate issues of public concern.
Analyze & critique how one's own attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs (political ideologies and political socialization) are shaped by political policies, one's own cultural, ethnic, and racial heritage, socio-economic status, by gender, by age, by sexual orientation.
Students will learn from many different people, methods, and viewpoints by being actively involved in a learning community that includes people similar and different than one's self.
Public Opinion
- Term not easily defined
- Often literally no majority opinion
- In public opinion, the “public” is usually a smaller segment of the populace.
Public Opinion
- Consists of views held by ordinary citizens that are openly expressed
- Often expressed by a direction (pro, con, for, against)
- Sometimes well informed and sometimes not
Measurement of Opinion
- Opinion Polls—Measurement of Public Opinion
Include a relatively small sample
Estimates populace views based on sample
Measurement of Opinion
Sample often chosen at random (better accuracy than focused group)
Sampling errors can occur when not enough folks are polled
The key to accuracy is the size of the sample (sampling error—the error that results from using a sample to estimate the population)
Opinion Dimensions
- Direction: refers to whether people have a pro or con position on an issue
- Intensity: how strongly people feel about a position
- Salience: how important people feel an issue is compared to other issues
Example
Problems with Polls
Sampling errors
Questions worded in a biased manner
Unfamiliarity of polling sample to question
- Used and relied upon in American Government regardless of any problems.
Public Opinion/Video
- PBS. (2015) CrashCourse. Public Opinion. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJLDgb8m3K0
- PBS. (2015) CrashCourse. Shaping Public Opinion: What Influences it . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NflULVECAFQ
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
Primary Social Agents:
Family
School
Religion
Agents of Political Socialization
Secondary Socializing Agents:
Friends/Peers
Media
Individuals in positions of authority
Frames of Reference
- Party Identification: Refers to one’s sense of loyalty to a political party
- Partisanship is not blind faith for the most part
Ideology
- Ideology: a consistent pattern of political attitudes that stem from a core belief (example: belief in environmentalism)
- Ideologies can change as times change
- Can be part of public opinion but not necessarily so
Economic Ideology
- Economic liberals: believe that government should use its power to help people who are economically disadvantaged
- Economic conservatives: believe that the government should leave the distribution of economic benefits largely to the workings of the free market
Cultural Ideology
- Cultural (social) liberals: believe lifestyle choices should be an individual choice
- Cultural (social) conservatives: would use government to promote traditional values
Other Ideology Terms
- Populist: Person who is an economic liberal and a cultural conservative
- Libertarian: Believe government should refrain from undue intervention in the economic marketplace AND in people’s private lives
Group Orientations
Many people see politics through the lens of a group affinity
Religion
Economic Class (aka Socio-economic Status
Region
Race & Ethnicity
Gender
Age/Generations
Groups can crosscut
Video Supplements
- PBS. (2015) CrashCourse. Political Ideology. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_k_k-bHigM