Political Socialization Assignment

*Due Wednesday, January 26

Overall:
In this assignment, you will be examining how you personally feel about many of the
political issues we discussed in class in order to determine your political ideology.
Of the many websites that attempt to help you figure this out, I have chosen one that
is relatively comprehensive and useful. Please keep in mind as you complete this
assignment that you are simply using one scholar’s method for determining
ideology, and that you yourself are the only true judge of your beliefs and overall
ideology. Further, remember there is no right or wrong answer to these types of
questions.

Part 1 (Ideology quiz)

Go to politicalcompass.org and read the home page. As you can read, one purpose
of the quiz is to place you on the scale so you can see how your views compare to
those of famous politicians throughout history. This can certainly be interesting, but
for our purposes, I want you to simply see where the quiz places you on the 4-
cornered ideological grid. Take the 5-10 minute quiz and get your results. Some of
the questions are strange, and some you may not understand (I don’t even
understand exactly what they are asking in a couple of them). Just answer as best
you can. If you don’t know what a word or concept means, you can always google it
before answering the question. As you read the results, don’t worry too much about
the information regarding historical figures or politicians, just focus on the
information regarding what the scale/grid means and your results.

Under your results where the quiz places you on the grid, there is a link to “show
graph on separate page for printing”. Please print it and attach it to your paper, so
that I can ensure that you completed the assignment, and so I can understand your
papers better in the context of your results.
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Part 2 (written assignment)

Please type at least 3 – 4.5 pages (12-point font, double-spaced, one-inch margins)
on your reaction to the quiz and how political socialization contributed to your
results. Comment on the questions asked, whether you believe they missed any
important topics, whether you were surprised by the results, and any general
criticism of the quiz. In addition make sure to address the process of how you were
politically socialized. Meaning how did the major agents of political socialization
(schools, family, media, peer groups, religion, and historical events shape yore
political opinion and ideology.
 Your grade will be based on your completion of the assignment, your ability to
follow these instructions, and the effort behind your comments in the paper. Further
I ask that you write this paper as you would a term paper, using correct spelling,
grammar, and punctuation. A not unsubstantial portion (over 25%) of your grade
will depend on the quality of writing. I will mark you down if you write the entire
paper like it’s a long text message instead of a college assignment.

Please turn in your paper into Schoology.

Come to class prepared to discuss your papers and your thoughts on the
assignment.

Please see or email me with any questions.