1. Changing Perspectives on Political Socialization -- 2. Historical Context and Maturation -- 3. Agents of Political Socialization Through the Life Course -- 4. Gender -- 5. Race/Ethnicity -- 6. Social Class -- 7. Two Hypothetical Citizens -- 8. Some “What” Questions about Future Citizens. .This book assembles what political scientists, sociologists, and communication analysts have learned in almost six decades of research on political socialization (the lifelong process by which we acquire political beliefs). It also explores how people develop political values, attitudes, identities, and behavioral dispositions. Of particular interest to Philo C. Wasburn and Tawnya J. Adkins Covert is the process by which people are made into active citizens who are politically interested, informed, partisan, tolerant, and engaged. Finally, Wasburn and Adkins Covert identify some suggestions for institutional change that would lead to “better” citizenship. .