Lesson 4.1-4: American Attitudes, Ideology, and Political Socialization
Enduring Understanding:
Citizen beliefs about government are shaped by the intersection of demographics, political culture, and dynamic social change.Learning Objectives:
Explain the relationship between core beliefs of U.S. citizens and attitudes about the role of government.
Explain how cultural factors influence political attitudes and socialization.
Essential Knowledge:
Different interpretations of core values, including individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise, rule of law, and limited government, affect the relationship between citizens and the federal government and the relationships citizens have with one another.Family, schools, peers, media, and social environments (including civic and religious organizations) contribute to the development of an individual’s political attitudes and values through the process of political socialization.
As a result of globalization, U.S. political culture has both influenced and been influenced by the values of other countries.
Generational and lifecycle effects also contribute to the political socialization that influences an individual’s political attitudes.
The relative importance of major political events to the development of individual political attitudes is an example of political socialization.
Debrief 4.1: Unit One Review
Use ASAP to analyze the follow excerpt:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.~ The Declaration of Independence, 1776
Then answer the following questions:
- How does this excerpt reflect the Enlightenment ideals of John Locke?
- How does the phrase "Consent of the Governed," as stated in the excerpt, fit into the Social Contract Theory of Government?
Activity #1: Ideology and Me
(See Class Activity)
Once you have finished and you see your results (and the class results). Explain what factors have shaped your political ideology
Activity #2: Political Socialization
Click here for Notes
