American Government Unit III Assessment (CATHERINE OWENS ONLY)

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Chapter 6

6-2

Political Socialization:

The Origins of Americans’ Opinions  Public opinion: opinions of citizens that are openly stated

 Political culture: the characteristic and deep-seated

beliefs of a particular people about government and

politics

6-3

Political Socialization:

The Origins of Americans’ Opinions  Political socialization process

 Childhood learning is paramount

 Process is cumulative: political affiliations usually grow

firmer with age

6-4

Political Socialization:

The Origins of Americans’ Opinions  Primary political socialization agents:

 Family

 Family is the strongest of all agents of socialization

 Schools

 Church

 Scholars have not studied the effects of religion as well as schools

or family, but it is a powerful influence

6-5

Political Socialization:

The Origins of Americans’ Opinions  Secondary political socialization agents:

 Peers

 Media

 Leaders

6-6

Frames of Reference:

How Americans Think Politically  Frames of reference: reference points by which

individuals evaluate issues and developments

 Party identification

 Party identification: emotional loyalty to a political party;

not formal membership

 Major shifts in loyalty rare

 Concentrated among younger adults

 Can lead to selective perception

6-8

Frames of Reference:

How Americans Think Politically  Political ideology:

 A coherent set of political beliefs

 Few Americans have true political ideology

 Ideological leanings:

 Economic liberals/conservatives

 Social liberals/conservatives

 Populists and libertarians

6-9

Frames of Reference:

How Americans Think Politically  Group orientations

 Religion

 Economic class

 Region

 Race and ethnicity

 Gender

 Generations and age

 Crosscutting groups

6-10

The Measurement of Public Opinion  The measurement of public opinion

 Traditional method: election results

 Public opinion polls: primary method

 Measure public opinion using randomly chosen population

sample(s) and carefully constructed interviews

 Samples—estimation of population’s views

 Accuracy of a poll—expressed by sampling error

6-11

The Measurement of Public Opinion  Problems with polls

 Increasing refusal to participate in telephone polls

 Polled individuals unfamiliar with issues

 Dishonesty by respondents

 Poorly worded questions and poor question order

 Non-opinions

6-12

The Influence of Public Opinion

on Policy  Disagreement over how much public opinion affects

policy, and how much it should affect policy

 Limits on public influence

 Inconsistencies in citizens’ policy preferences

 Citizens’ lack of understanding of issues

 Mastery of issues not necessary for opinion to be of value, but

some issues require understanding

6-13

The Influence of Public Opinion

on Policy  Public opinion and the boundaries of action

 Some policy actions outside boundaries of public

acceptability

 The greater the level of public involvement, the more likely

officials will respond to public sentiment

 Even on popular issues, leaders have some discretion

 Leaders can influence public opinion through concerted

effort