political normalization 

The processes by which society establishes new norms, expectations, and standards, and in some cases existing norms and standards are replaced, in regards to what is and is not acceptable in politics. These processes happen in various settings including schools, colleges, businesses, churches, news channels, and homes. These processes can greatly impact how people think, act, and behave in many different political situations. In the present, the processes related to this have been heavily shaped by the Republicans and Democrats and in turn many of norms and standards being made about politics strongly favor the views of those groups, which in turn gives the mainstream political parties more influence on political and social issues than the nonmainstream parties have. The best way to counter this issue is to give nonmainstream political parties more access to these institutions so they can have their views heard and in turn potentially shape some of the norms that are made, which can help make these processes more fair and representative of the different groups in society.

Zachary: A lot of people strongly support the Republicans and Democrats these days; even though their views on certain issues don’t really benefit many members of U.S. population. I wonder why so many people support them when it does not really benefit them to do so?

Amy: It is because of the fact that political normalization, the processes by which new norms and standards are made related to what is and is not acceptable in politics, has been very heavily influenced by the Republican and Democratic parties, which has led to most of the norms that are made to strongly support their views and not the views of nonmainstream parties, like the Reform Party, or the Constitution Party. As a result, most people in society don’t even consider voting for nonmainstream parties or support people who agree with their ideas.

political normalization by Vanguard 1998 March 16, 2021