We all learn from the people and things surrounding us, about every aspect of our lives,

including politics. Political socialization is the developmental processes where people of

all ages and acquire their own political views, attitudes, and behaviors. Some influential

factors include the people surrounding you, the news happening right now, and who you

are. I am the next generation left according to the typology quiz I completed. This group

includes young and well educated people who have very liberal attitudes toward many

issues with most affiliating with the democratic party, but not strong democrats. My own

political socialization has consisted of my family, my gender, and the mass media.

Growing up, I was always taught to be open minded of others and their opinions,

understand every view of a topic. At home, my family rarely discusses politics, unless it

is an issue that affects us directly. This has its positives and negatives to it. This way of

thinking in my family and limited political discussions has allowed for me to form my own

opinion on political topics without much home influence. Instead of sharing their political

views with us, my parents always go vote whenever there is an election held. By doing

this, it has become my siblings and my example to follow by voting when we reach 18

years of age.

Since 1920 when women gained the right to vote, the playing field has been what

seems to be even. However, as of today we have yet to have a female president of the

United States. This past presidential election, we did have a female candidate.

However, she lost against our current president. If I was able to have voted in that

election, my vote would have most likely been for her since it would be a positive
change to the past 44 male presidents we have had. This view also follows the gender

gap since Hillary Clinton is a democrat. The gender gap is defined as a difference in

views between men and women, where women are more likely to vote for democratic

candidates while men are more likely to vote for republican candidates. Women also

tend to be less conservative than males.

The media is largest influence of anyone’s political socialization. It’s in the newspaper,

on tv, on the radio, and on billboards. There’s no way to escape it. On the weekends,

my mom likes to watch a show called CBS Sunday Morning. Directly after this, Face the

Nation comes on, which I normally watch since it's already on the tv. On this particular

show, they bring up several political topics during a show and everyone around a table

shares their views on the specific topic. This really shows how different we all are with

our opinions and how political socialization has influenced everyone separately. It also

displays a very civilized way of arguing which is not always the way in our society. If you

watch any other news show, you are bound to come across a covering of a protest

going on somewhere across the world. Showing violence of some sort brings attention

to other’s political views and what they are doing for political change in their favor.

While growing up, we are socialized with other kids to learn to communicate and learn.

Political socialization is the same concept, only it is learning about politics, and

communicating our own political views. Gender, family, and the media have played a

large role in my political participation, as well for many others in this country. This is how

I’ve learned to communicate my own views and learn about politics.