Typical American Political Culture

However, most of America’s political culture has been formed by the individual political opinions of each American citizen and a common political culture is not defined by all Americans thinking in the same way. Although tracking trends of political culture can be difficult, it is important to realize that there is no “typical American” or the same beliefs for every citizens. Different aspects of human life such as family, gender, and religion have had a significant effect on the overall themes of political culture and form the distinctive attitudes of each citizen. In regards to family, most young voters tend to show many similarities to how their parents voted when they were young. Although some voters are likely to diverge away from the …show more content…
Therefore, public opinion, or simply the way that people feel and voice their opinions about governmental topics or societal issues, has been a significant part of America’s government for over 200 years. In the process of political socialization, individuals are able to develop their political attitudes and are not only influenced by inward factors, but also outward factors such as mass media that can often control and overpower the opinions of many citizens. Many Americans have been greatly affected by the economic system of the country and the pressures of the economy that has surrounded them for many years. Therefore, economic individualism and self reliance has greatly affected the political culture of this nation as many individuals strive for equality of opportunity rather than equality of result. As a result, many of the decisions that the country makes is focused around these economic ideals. Mass media such as television radio, magazines, and the web are also able to have a dominant hold over many of developments of public opinion. Because the reliance on technology has increased exponentially over the past few years, the influence of media has also increased. Media is able to achieve this great feat by setting the public agenda. Because media is able to pick and choose what stories and reports to air or write about, media is able to shape the public’s interest in determining their own political issues of importance. Media also has the ability to make citizens question the motives and purposes of government actions through their reports and findings and media can also be bias as they place their own beliefs into their reports and political spectrum claims. Therefore, media and the combination of many other variables have caused an issue dealing with