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158-162 Political Socialization: The Family Majority of young people identify with their parents political party By the time one is in the 5th grade, over half of all school children identify with on party or the other 60% of people still have the same party identification as their parent Ability of the family to inculcate a strong sense of part identification has declined in recent years Sharp rise in citizens describing themselves independents Part of this change comes from the fact that young voters have weaker sense of partisanship than older ones Acquire same measure of partisanship from parents Liberal and conserivative democrats/liberal and conservative republicans Children more independent of their parents in policy preference than in party identification Participation of various student radical movements in the 1960s suggest college radicals often the sons/daughters of people who had themselves been young radicals Deeply conservative people come disproportionately from there familes that we alo deeply conservative Transfer of political beliefs not shown in national studies because small proportion of the populatioin is at either the far left or far right of spectrum Religion Forms/transmits polical beliefs by religious traditions Opionins on school, prayer, other issues based on religion Catholics basically mirror gerneral public in the way they view school prayer as a way to shape values/behavior Jews/nonreligious question if svhool prayer violates consitution Religious influences on public opinion are most pronounced with respect to social issues and less evident on others The Gender Gap Women favor democrats rather than rebulicans Men favor republicans rather than democrats Gender Gap: difference in poltical views between men and women Gap is problem for both political parties Biggest reason for gap involves attitudes about the siz of the government, gun control, spending programs aimed at the poor, gay rights Similar views on abortion, Differnent views on welfare, spending money to help the homelss or increase military defense, sexual harassment in workplace Schooling and information Attending school had big impact on policial attitudes usually more liberal Increased schooling= increase in voting + other political activity Young people favor of school vouchers and fay marriage Belief of individual choice may well be present-day college-age Americans core political opinion Political participation by college students has declined Contemporary college students believe volunteering is movre civic act than voting/ community service is more worthwhile than political engagement

Todays college much less apt to read newspaper/magazines Internet, news channels, raions, telivison emphasize political themes