Political Socialization

Almost every individual in today's society has a set of political beliefs or values, but most of us hardly ever pause to think why we have such beliefs and how we have acquired them. Are they our own ideas or have we been influenced by others in our thinking? Most political scientists are of the opinion that people are not born with political ideas, nor do we manufacture them, we learn them through a process called political socialization. In this paper we shall see how this is so. In addition, we shall look at the background of political socialization, discuss its importance in today's society, identify the factors that influence the process of political socialization and evaluate their relative importance.

Background

The concept of political socialization can be traced as far back as Plato's philosophical works such as "The Republic" in which he looks for ways to develop...
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