Political Socialization

Have you ever thought about why you have the political beliefs and values you do? Where did they come from? Are they simply your own ideas and experiences or have you been influenced by others in your thinking? This process by which individuals acquire their political beliefs and attitudes is called political socialization. In another words, Political socialization is a concept where the study of the developmental processes by which children and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes and behaviors. What people think and how they come to think it is of critical importance to the stability of the government. The beliefs and values of the people are the basis for a society's political culture and that culture defines the parameters of political life and governments? action.
There are many agents that influence in one degree or another individual's political socialization. Factors such as: family, friends, teachers, media, religion, race, gender, age and geography all influence us in one way or another during our childhood years. By now you should know that most political opinions are formed during childhood and many political ideas are passed down from parents to their children through them expressing their beliefs. When I was growing up I formed many opinions and attitudes due to the fact my parents were feeling that way. Growing up during in early/mid 1990?s in Bosnia wasn?t easy. With a country in a full scale war people were looking for help. A country that just few years earlier hosted and showed the world a great Winter Olympic Games was in need of help, but no one answered. People started forming their own opinions and theories about the world that has turned their back on them, including my parents. There was very limited access of what was happening in the world available to the people. I can clearly remember trying to figure out what is happening on my own and listening to my parents and trying to form something out of it. I lived in Sarajevo,