Political Socialization

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Political socialization refers to processes through which individuals acquire politically relevant values, beliefs, and attitudes. This course will address fundamental questions related to political socialization. How do children, adolescents, and young adults learn about politics? Form political beliefs? Understand the concepts and norms surrounding political behavior? The course will begin by considering general socialization patterns in children and young adults. The remainder of the course will spend a week each on different socialization forces, including institutions (family, school, religion), social interactions (peers, family, major events), inherent characteristics (genetics, gender, race), and technology (media, new technology). The goal of the course is that you come away with a better understanding of how political attitudes and beliefs are formed and maintained, and how outside institutions and campaigns may take advantage of those factors of socialization. This course should exemplify the CCT learning goals of interdisciplinary problem-solving, theory to practice, and the thematic focus of media and politics.