Political Socialization:Meaning, Significance and Agencies

     Baruch Spinoza has once said. “citizens are not born, but made.“The process of individual learning of politics and orientation with politics is known as political socialization. It involves both emotional learning and the manifest political doctrination and a deliberate inculcation of political information, values and practices by institutional agents who have been formally charged with this responsibility. This is a continuous process of learning and it can be acquired by individual learning as well as  by early family experiences.
1_ Meaning & Definition of political Socialization
Socialization is a process in which man became a social animal.According to Bogardus, “Socialization is the process of working together, of developing group responsibility, or being guided by the welfare needs of others”. Whereas, political socialization is the process which transmits the political values and norms from one generation to another. It is the segment of the process of socialization. It is through the process of socialization the young and newcomers in a society get integrated into the society. When it is applied to the political system it is known as political socialization. The process of socialization helps in moulding the personality of a person and in later stage it decides his political role. The term Political socialization was coined by H. H Hyman and popularized by 1970s.
“Political Socialisation may be defined as those developmental processes through which persons acquire political orientations and pattern of behavior” - DavidEaston
“Political socalisation is establishment and development of beliefs about political system. It is a continues process of learning of norms’ attitudes and behaviours acceptable to an ongoing political system” - AR Ball
“Political Socialisation is a process by which political cultures are maintained and changed” - Almond and Verba
“It is the gradual learning of norms, attitudes and behavior acceptable to an ongoing political system” - Robert sigel
“Political socialization is the process by which political cultures are maintained and changed. Through the performance of this function individual are inducted into the political culture, their orientations towards political objects are formed” - Gabriel A. Almond and G.B.Powell
2_ Significance of Political Socialisation
   It is through the political socialization, political cultures are formed and transmitted from one generation to another. Through this process, values, attitudes, knowledge and beliefs about politics is maintained and passed on within the society. Political socialization makes the masses aware of their political rights and also makes them conscious about their political duties like voting in the election; contesting election etc.
   This process also makes a person able to check drawbacks of the society through the realization of his rights and duties. It also helps in the growth and development of culture.
3_ Agencies of Political Socialisation
   Political socialisation is a process by which political culture is transmitted in a given society and it occurs at both the individual and community level. 
    It extends beyond the acquisition of political culture to encompass the learning of more sophisticated political ideas and orientations. It is a lifelong process and variety of individuals and institutions contribute to its shaping effect. Broadly we can classify the agencies of political socialization as primary and secondary. The primary agencies of socialization are those that directly develop specific political orientations such as, family, peer groups, educational institutions etc. Whereas the secondary agencies tend to be less
personal and involved in the process of socialization more of an indirect manner. Mass media, political parties, voluntary organizations, government etc. comes under the category of secondary socialization agencies.
Major agencies of political socialisation are as follows:
A. Family : 
   Family plays a key role in transmitting political culture from one generation to the other. Much of an individual’s political personality is shaped at home in the first ten or fifteen years of his life. Large scale
researchers in U.S.A have confirmed that more than three-forth children of a generation follow political values of the parents through the social and
economic environments.
    Usually child accept the familial political beliefs and attitudes just as readily accepts the parental version of what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, what is proper and improper.
   The members of a family usually live in the same environment. The family members read the same newspapers, attend the same radio and TV programmes, listen to the same preacher and other local opinion leaders, gather the same gossip and hear the same stories. So, all the members of the family should naturally carry similar political ideas, values and behavior.
B. Peer groups :
   Besides family, childhood play groups, friendship cliques, small work groups, brothers and sisters, married couples are some of the examples of the peer groups.
    Peer groups comprises of members of the sameage and are non - hierarchic as well as enjoy an equal status in their relation with each other. This equality is characteristic of equal age, equal functions and equal economic status. This does not mean that peer groups have no leaders, but these leaders do not enjoy authority, characteristic of the parents in the family. Just as in the socialization of the child influence of the family is maximum, similarly in adolescence she/ he is influenced by the peer group and friend circle. In this age the child needs explanation of political changes and participates in them. They attain political experience due to socialization in the upper group. However, the societies in which the control of the family upon the individual is comprehensive and durable exhibit little and less durable contribution of the peer group.
C. Educational institutions : 
   After the family and peer groups, educational institutions play an important role in political socialisation. It is due to the significance of educational institutions in most of the countries the governments try to control the educational institutions. 
  Attempts are made by the government to control the universities by means of economic aid or by other means for propagating political culture favourable to them. For example, during Nazism the Jew faculty members were evicted from colleges and universities. The curriculum, teachers, political parties as well as their ideologies influence a person very much. Many great leaders had grown from campus politics and colleges.
D. Secondary groups :
     Secondary groups also work as an agency for political socialisation. However, the secondary groups vary according to the nature of societies. In highly developed countries the role played by the secondary groups and its number will be also more. As the complexity and
development increases in society so does increase the alue of secondary groups. 
D . 1-Types of Secondary Groups
  It is possible to identify three types of secondary groups which socialize
politically in different ways.
 Secondary groups with a distinctly political character.Political parties and political youth groups fall in this category. They are established clearly for the purpose of disseminating political values, mobilizing political action and recruiting the political leaders.
 Groups which are instituted for non-political purposes, but which are found to carry on political education and mobilisation along with their other activities. A labour union, students union illustrates these types.
    Groups which does not have any political character, nor do they ever try to impart political education to their members. But mere participation in their routine affairs gives their members opportunities to develop orientations that have political relevance.
E. Mass media :
   Radio, television, newspaper, and other forms of mass media also provide information about political happenings and is considered as one of the important pillars in Indian democracy. That is why manipulation of media is often resorted to in different countries to influence, and change the political orientation of citizens.
   A controlled system of mass media, can, therefore, be a powerful force, in shaping political beliefs of citizens. It is necessary to remember that mass media in most cases are not the actual originator of the messages they transmit, the governmental officials and political leaders, secondary groups, etc. are the originators of message.
   The mass media just channelize these messages to the people. From this, it is evident that the mass media, strictly speaking, are not themselves an agent of political socialisation. Further, the mass media messages go through what Klapper calls a “two-step flow”.That is,mass media do not generally influence the people directly.
   The messages they transmit, at the first instance, reach a smaller number of “opinion leaders” like parents, teachers, community activities, etc., who then retransmit these messages to those over whom they have influence.
   Now the media is beginning to displace the traditional agents like family, teachers as we spend more time in front of computers and the television. As a result, it becomes easier for political messages to reach a greater number of people.
F. Political parties : 
   The political party is another important instrument through which people get a regular opportunity to be involved in political actions of the society. It may either reinforce the established political culture or may bring in significant changes in the pattern of existing political culture. Indeed, when a nation is aiming at radical social and political changes the political party may serve as a very useful agency for effectively disseminating ideas congruent with this change and thus may play a significant role in the process of political socialisation.
   The government plays a role in political socialization in a variety of ways. It determines the policies and curricula, including what books students should read, for publicschools. The government also regulates the content
of media, which affects what we see and hear. In the United States, broadcast television programs cannot contain nudity or profane language, and the government also mandates a certain amount of “family-friendly” programming per week. These choices have a subtle effect on viewers: We learn that bad language is inappropriate and that family is an essential part of
American life and therefore American political culture.
   Similarly, governments frequently stage parades and celebrations to commemorate important events and people in history.
G. Religion :
    Religion is also a strong agency for political socialisation. It had great effect on person’s political views. For example, Protestants are to be more conservative at the political stage.
H. Work place :
    Work place also plays an important role in formulating the political thinking among people. A person’s attitude towards political institutions and structures gets shape with ease or difficulty with which he gets jobs. He develops love or hatred for the system accordingly.
    Political socialisation is a relatively novel area of study, but they perform functions which are vital to the political system as well as to the individuals. This is when even a totalitarian regime is keen to monopolize the socialization process so that people develop positive attitudes towards it however, deplorable it may be from the larger humanistic stand point. But the study of political socialisation, like political culture, has special and vital
significance for the third world countries where the political culture is not static and change and is yet to take a definite shape. The great issues of politics in the emerging nations such as political stability, political development and change can be much more meaningfully studied and discussed with the help of political socialization.