Political socialisation is the process by which the values, beliefs and emotions of a political culture are passed on to succeeding generations.
The process starts at an early age and continues throughout life. The institutions of family, school, church, work-groups, political party and so on being its agencies and they together go to cement the cultural heritage. Of these, the family is the first in order of time, and in order of importance, in directing the outcome.
The family is the most natural and the least formal institution. It constitutes the earliest environment of man and exercises a great formative influence on him. While offering to its members a natural and comfortable shelter within the available means, it introduces them very easily to the wider aspects of social life.
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It is in the family that the child learns attitudes towards others, including those in authority, both inside and outside the family. He learns to differentiate between himself and others and to value certain actions and persons more highly than others.
The contribution of the family in the whole process of socialisation of the individual will depend, among other things, on the extent to which the family differentiates itself from others, for example, a black family in a white community, the degree of mobility in that society and the valuation of family by loyalty within the culture.
Next to the family is the school which sharpens the intellect to understand the implications of the values and beliefs. But the outcome of the early schooling also varies. It will clearly differ according to whether or not the school system is governmental, denominational or public, highly centralised and uniform and the extent to which educators encourage a questioning attitude to the knowledge transferred.
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In denominational institutions and in societies as in Pakistan and other Islamic countries where religion and politics are inseparable political soialisation moves in one direction and it are highly indoctrinated and therefore not conducive for the value of direct citizenship or civics education.
The outcome of the process will reflect the impact upon the individual of his peer group; a friendly group more or less of the same age-group sharing similar problems.
Under pressures within this group and as a result of higher education and/or employment he will come to have more or less standard expectations of how he and others will behave in political situations. He may be of a group which is traditionally expected to ‘go into’ politics as others might be expected to follow the family trade or profession.
Alternatively, he may be of a group which traditionally ‘keeps out’ of politics. From whichever group he comes he will have political expectations which will include a level of participation, an attitude to political change and an attitude towards the influence structure. In developed countries, like the United States and Sweden, remarks James S. Coleman.
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“The socializing influence of parents and teachers begins to decrease in early adolescence and from their Peer groups exercise increasingly important influences on political attitudes and behaviour.” And as a person still grows older, other influences as necessitated by circumstances and prevailing conditions and environment create their impact which is more enduring.
Two other important agencies that contribute to the process of political socialisation are the political party and the mass media. A political party is a free association of men, organised for promoting by their collective effort particular set of principles and policies calculated to further the interest of the nation.
The party has become a vital instrument of moulding and shaping public opinion, whose tone is largely determined by the character, intelligence and integrity of the party leaders. A party holds together and thrives by such psychological forces as those of sympathy, imitation, competition and pugnacity.
The parties keep the political issues alive; each party explaining its own point of view through various channels of communication at its command. By their discussion and propaganda they mobilize political action and offer a choice to the electors to select their rulers and their programme. Trust is the key word in political culture and the response to particular programme will reflect the amount of trust that exists for a party within the political realm.
Disagreement about values is an obvious source of political conflict and sides are readily taken on all such issues. As a consequence of ordering of competing men and measures the political parties create and open lines of communication between governors and governed, through which government may govern more effectively, oppositions oppose and the many react.
Free discussion of public affairs from the platform, the press and other media, which are numerous in complex societies whether pluralistic or totalitarian, is a vital process in the mobilization of political socialisation, for it is through these agencies that issues are presented, discussed in their various aspects and public opinion is formed.
A free press is a fearless press and Lippmann attached so much importance to the daily press that he called it the “bible of democracy”, an epitome of citizenship. Similarly, the radio, the television and the cinema are effective media of educating the people in public affairs and, thereby stirring their sense of political socialization, provided the opinion they shape is not manufactured.
Where the mass media are a monopoly controlled by the State, public opinion is largely what it is made to be. Such conditions are not conducive to the development of political socialisation.