Role of Media in Political Sophistication Social Sciences Coursework (Coursework Sample)

The Role of Media in Political Sophistication
Political Sophistication has a definite role in the process of political arena especially in political participation. There are numerous definitions posited by different political scientists and scholars regarding political sophistication. Sophistication or political sophistication is a concept that addresses differences in the amounts of political awareness, information, interest, and judgmental capabilities of members of the mass public (Sulfaro, 1997). It denotes to the capability of the public to render political information based on the amount of information they have knowledge of with regards to politics which affects their participation in politics such as in voting and mass movements. ‘Political awareness refers to the extent to which an individual pays attention to politics and understands what he or she has encountered’ (Zaller, 1992). Political sophistication can also be seen through how the mass publics react towards policies and laws which are affected by different factors such as educational attainment and the influence of media on the public. There are different concepts that relates to political sophistication and their association with each other is crucial in defining the main extent of political sophistication. Fiske, Kinder and Larter (1983) suggest that political sophistication is the result of acquiring knowledge about politics, in which if we can measure a person’s political expertise, we are inherently able to understand their level of political sophistication. Neuman (1986) suggests a definition of political sophistication resting on three factors: “political salience” (based on individual interest, attentiveness, and involvement), “political knowledge” (based on factual knowledge items) and “political conceptualization”. Zaller (1990) measures political expertise in terms of four measures of “political awareness,” based on the ability to correctly locate groups and candidates on a 7-point ideological scale (the “information scale”) and measures of participation, media exposure, and political interest from the 1972–76 NES panel study. Luskin (1987) defines political sophistication as “the extent to which [a person’s personal belief system] is large, wide-ranging, and highly constrained”, and “the political case of a more general variable,” cognitive complexity or expertise.