Political Socialization

 Political socialization is one of the major concepts of modern political science. It is important for the understanding of political stability of a country. The term political socialization has been defined in a number of ways those are given below—

Definition of Political Socialization:

According to Almond and Powell “Political socialization is the process by which political cultures are maintained and changed”

Easton and Dennis defined political socialization as “Those development process by which acquires political orientation and pattern of behavior”.

Allan R. Ball defines “Political socialization as establishment and development of attitudes to beliefs about the political system.”

Characteristics of Political Socialization

1. Political socialization is a process.
2. Know about political orientation.
3. Know the pattern of behavior. 
4. Development of attitude.

So at last we can say that political socialization is a learning process by which individuals are trained to become well-functioning members of a political community.

Types of Political Socialization:

There are mainly two types of political socialization.

1. Direct or Manifesto: In this types includes political information, values, feeling and their extension. In it the political ideology is considered superior everywhere in family, in educational institutional and in society.
2. Indirect or Non-manifesto: It works in the following three modes…..
• Transference: In this type of indirect and non-manifest political socialization, the values and thoughts of a person or persons are transferred to other person or persons.
• Apprenticeship: This includes learning of the habits and behaviour favorable to political activities.
• Generalization: This process of the indirect or non- manifest political socialization works for generalization to reach from social values to political aims.

Agents of Political Socialization

The agents a child surrounds him/herself with during childhood are crucial to the child's development of future voting behaviors. Some of these agents include:

1. Family: Glass (1986) recognizes family as a primary influence in the development of a child’s political orientation, mainly due to constant relationship between parents and child.
2. Schools: Most influential of all agents, after the family, due to the child's extended exposure to a variety of political beliefs, such as friends and teachers, both respected sources of information for students.
3. Peer group: It is a group of people approximately of the age, sharing similar problems. Peer groups become increasingly important influence on political attitude and behavior.
4. Mass Media: Becker (1975) argue that the media play functions as a medium of political information to adolescents and young children.
5. Religion: Religious tradition can have a strong effect on someone's political views. For example, Protestants tend to be more conservative (in countries where Protestants are not great majority). 
6. Political Parties: Scholars such as Campbell (1960) note that political parties have very little direct influence on a child due to a contrast of social factors such as age, context, power, etc.
7. Employment Experience: Political orientation is shaped through participation in unions, collective bargaining, demonstrations and other forms of decision making. Informal groups of employee exert influence on the attitude of their members towards political objects and events.
8. Symbols: Symbols are also play an effective role in political socialization. The observation of birth days or martyrdom days of national heroes like Mahatma Gandhi, Sub hash Chandra Bose etc. inculcates a new sprite among the youths and they begin to work for the nation.

Function of Political Socialization: 

The functions of political socialization are given below……….

1. The main function of political socialization is the transmission of political values from one generation to another.
2. Political socialization shape and transmits a nation’s political culture.
3. It maintains, transforms and sometimes creates the political culture of a people.
4. Political socialization introduces values, norms and orientations in the minds of individuals.
5. Sometimes, a country which has just won its independence may try to find a new political system for itself and create a new political culture for itself and maintain the same. 
6. The process of political socialization goes on throughout the life of the individual.
7. Political socialization is the modification of political culture.