0:00 hey there and welcome back to heimlich's
0:01 history now i've been going through unit
0:02 4 of the ap government curriculum and in
0:04 this video that means it's time to talk
0:05 about political socialization so if
0:07 you're ready to get them brain cows
0:08 milked with them let's get to it so in
0:10 this video here's what we're trying to
0:11 do explain how cultural factors
0:13 influence political attitudes and
0:14 socialization so the real question here
0:16 is how is it that you and i come to
0:19 believe in one political ideology or
0:21 another and as much as i'd like to tell
0:22 you that all americans form their
0:24 political beliefs by spending hundreds
0:25 of hours pouring over complex works of
0:28 political science and delving into the
0:30 depths of various primary documents of
0:32 our national and constitutional origins
0:34 now there are a few people who do that
0:36 but in general most of us form our
0:37 political opinions based on humbler
0:39 factors and the process by which we form
0:41 our political opinions is called
0:43 political socialization so let's talk
0:45 about the six factors that work together
0:46 in our political socialization first and
0:48 foremost is the family and many studies
0:50 have borne out the truth that children
0:52 will often hold the same or similar
0:54 political opinions held by their parents
0:56 for example it probably won't surprise
0:57 you to know that politics is often a
0:58 discussion around the heimler dinner
1:00 table and my children pick these things
1:02 up maybe without even knowing it so if
1:03 you asked my six-year-old son which
1:05 political party deserves our vote then
1:07 you would no doubt hear this uh that's
1:09 complicated yes that is the right answer
1:11 my son i'm raising him right in fact in
1:13 2002 christopher aiken published a study
1:15 demonstrating that while experienced
1:17 adult voters considered a variety of
1:19 factors when it came to how they voted
1:20 younger voters casting their ballots for
1:22 the first time almost always relied on
1:24 the political ideology they picked up
1:26 from their parents i should say that
1:27 since the advent of social media this
1:29 connection has shown some signs of
1:31 weakening but even so the family remains
1:33 the biggest early influence on people's
1:35 political ideology okay the second
1:37 factor in political socialization is
1:39 schools and though there is no wealth of
1:41 evidence that suggests that students
1:42 become more conservative or more liberal
1:44 as a result of being in a k-12 class it
1:46 does have the potential to shape how a
1:48 student thinks about politics and
1:50 therefore the world there's some classes
1:51 like ap government or civics class that
1:53 directly shape how a student thinks
1:55 about politics but again back to the
1:57 point i just made these classes usually
1:58 don't make a student more conservative
2:00 or more liberal even with direct
2:02 exposure to these modes of thought but
2:03 there are also other factors in school
2:05 that while not directly engaging
2:06 students in political socialization do
2:08 influence their political beliefs
2:10 nonetheless in this day and age it is
2:11 the history classroom that has created a
2:13 political firestorm for example in 2019
2:16 the new york times released something
2:17 called the 1619 project which was a
2:20 series of resources that argued the
2:21 following every american institution is
2:24 tainted with racism because everything
2:26 was built whether politically
2:27 economically or socially on the
2:29 institution of slavery and some teachers
2:31 used this material in their history
2:33 classes well as you probably know such
2:34 an interpretation of u.s history is
2:36 politically contentious to say the least
2:38 such a perspective grows out of a
2:40 liberal liberationist mindset which
2:42 seeks to challenge the dominant
2:43 historical narrative and uplift the
2:45 voices and actions of those who have
2:46 been historically oppressed you can
2:48 imagine that as a student if you were
2:49 taught this it would have an influence
2:51 on your political ideology well in
2:53 response to this conservatives formed
2:54 the 1776 commission and produced
2:56 resources that explained u.s history
2:58 through a different lens u.s history was
3:00 not something to be ashamed of they
3:02 argued but rather something to be proud
3:03 of yes americans have had their
3:05 blemishes but ultimately american
3:07 history is filled with progress and the
3:08 advancement toward ever more freedom and
3:10 democracy and by contrast you can see
3:12 that if this was the version of history
3:14 you were taught it would have an
3:15 influence on your political ideology in
3:17 the opposite direction so schools both
3:19 in direct and indirect ways influence
3:21 our political socialization the third
3:23 factor in our political socialization is
3:25 our interaction with peers social
3:26 conformity plays a huge role in what a
3:28 person believes like if your peers all
3:30 hold to political ideology x and you
3:32 hold the political ideology why there is
3:34 a huge amount of social pressure even if
3:36 it's not direct to conform your beliefs
3:38 to the peer group a fourth factor in our
3:39 political socialization is the media
3:41 spending so much time in front of
3:42 screens has given people of all ages but
3:44 especially young people more access to a
3:46 wide range of viewpoints almost daily we
3:49 see people saying things in the public
3:50 square that shapes the way we think
3:52 about politics and we also see people
3:53 getting cancelled for offensive
3:55 statements and that can have a way of
3:56 convincing us that we don't want to be
3:58 on the other side of that counseling and
4:00 so we adjust our beliefs and language
4:02 accordingly additionally with the rise
4:04 in the last 20 years of cable news we've
4:05 seen a tremendous increase in
4:07 conservative and liberal pundits who
4:09 tell us with authority exactly how we
4:11 should think about everything that
4:12 happens look as long as i have any
4:14 platform to stand on i will always warn
4:16 anyone who listens to me to be very wary
4:19 of those pundits they are first and
4:21 foremost entertainers and they care very
4:23 little about presenting the world and
4:25 all its complexity as it actually is
4:27 nevertheless much to my chagrin they
4:29 have very large audiences and they are
4:31 able to shape the way people think about
4:33 politics a fifth factor in political
4:34 socialization is our participation in
4:36 civic and religious organizations an
4:38 example of a civic organization would be
4:40 the boy scouts or the girl scouts the
4:41 boy scouts organization was founded with
4:43 the explicit mention to teach boys
4:45 patriotism courage self-reliance and
4:47 kindred values now since 1910 when that
4:50 was written the scout's commitment to
4:51 patriotism has undergone some change but
4:53 nevertheless if you're a scout it will
4:55 affect the way you think about to use
4:57 their own language god and country in
4:59 other words political socialization is
5:00 happening in a civic organization like
5:02 that an example of a religious
5:03 organization would be membership and
5:05 attendance in a church or a synagogue or
5:07 a mosque now all religious organizations
5:09 vary in terms of their political beliefs
5:10 you've got liberal churches and
5:12 conservative churches liberal synagogues
5:13 and conservative synagogues liberal
5:15 mosques and conservative mosques but the
5:16 point is whatever political ideology is
5:18 joined to the organization's religious
5:20 belief is the political ideology the
5:22 congregation will be hearing about week
5:24 after week and that has an influence for
5:26 example evangelical christian churches
5:28 saw a significant shuffling of members
5:29 during the covet 19 pandemic some
5:31 churches when they reopened require
5:33 masks in order to participate in worship
5:35 and that offense was all it took for
5:36 many members to reject what they thought
5:38 of as overt liberal political
5:40 socialization and choose another church
5:41 that aligned more with their political
5:43 beliefs and the sixth factor in
5:44 political socialization is globalization
5:46 by definition globalization is the
5:48 increasing interconnectedness of the
5:50 world by means of economic partnerships
5:52 let me hasten to add that is a very
5:53 basic definition but it'll do for our
5:55 purposes however along with those
5:56 economic connections come political
5:58 influences as well like in a globalized
6:00 world we are all influenced by factors
6:03 well beyond our borders for example
6:04 through immigration people bring their
6:06 cultural ideas to bear on the political
6:08 culture of the united states immigrants
6:10 from asian countries have a much
6:11 stronger sense of the good of the
6:13 community above the individual and as
6:15 they immigrate to america that value can
6:17 run counter to our strong belief in the
6:19 triumph of the individual even so in
6:21 some cases such a belief might take root
6:22 and affect a person's political
6:24 socialization okay thanks for watching
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