Michael A. Hansen
Political Science 106-002: Politics of the World’s Nations
21 October 2015
Midterm Essay Question 1
Family, School, and Rationality: The Most Effective Social Agents An individual’s political beliefs can be attributed to primarily seven agents of socialization, or social institutions that shape these beliefs: family, school, church, psychology, genetics, and rationality (broken into the categories of “self-interest” and “critical evaluation” [Hansen 2015, lecture]). The agents that seem to impact political beliefs the greatest are family, school, and rationality. The direct influence of family, the outside forces of peers and authorities at school, and the individual’s interpretation and exercise of both form that individual’s identity within their political culture, or the social beliefs that relate to politics. Family is arguably the greatest factor in determining someone’s political beliefs. The amount of time spent with the family is much greater than any other social group, causing the individual to learn “social norms, behavior, and beliefs” beginning at a young age (Hansen 2015, lecture). Those learned traits create a foundation for that person’s future political beliefs, but it is arguable whether …show more content…
Perhaps a child hearing from their parents that they are well off because they had worked harder than those on welfare led them to perennially believe that it is true, influencing them to not vote for laws regarding government aid. However, if the individual encountered a family that struggled financially as a result of harsh laws and applied for welfare to purchase enough food, that could influence them to vote