Unit 2.

Political processes and political development

2.1 POLITICAL CULTURE: MEANING, TYPES AND DETERMINANTS.

Introduction

Political culture refers to the set of values, beliefs, viewpoints and perspectives about
the political system of a state.

It is a country's political system as internalized by the feelings, evaluations, and

cognition of its citizens.

Political culture can also be defined as the values and political conduct of individuals or
collective agents.

Almond, "political culture is sets of attitudes, beliefs, notion, faith and understanding of
the political system, political issues, political ideology and political characters"

Political culture can also mean the distinctive and patterned form that consists of how
governmental, political and economic life should be carried out.
It consists of the attitudes, beliefs and values that support the functioning of a political
system.

Characteristics of political culture

1. It is a universal concept in that it is common to all societies

2. It is the system of empirical beliefs, values and expressive symbols

3. Every political system has its own political culture, which is dominated by diverse sub-
groupings based on race, language, ethnicity, religion, and other factors.

4. Political culture is a subset of the general culture, hence it is an inherent element of

the general culture.
5. It creates a framework for political change

6. Political culture is a comprehensive concept that touches every aspect of the political
system.

7. It is unique to every state, nation and society

8. Political culture is a dynamic idea since it is always changing due to the influx of
foreigners, outbreaks of war, revolutions, and so forth.
Components of political culture
1. Evaluative orientation: This entails making decisions and evaluating the political
system.
It involves making decisions about political objects and comparing them to those in
other systems.

For example, while evaluating their political system, people try to know if the political
system has achieved the objective that it had sought to achieve.

People, for example, seek to determine whether their political system has achieved the
objectives it set out to achieve while evaluating it.

2. Cognitive orientation: This refers to people's level of understanding and awareness of

political issues and objects.
It relates to how much and what kind of information people have about political issues
and events.

It is the understanding and belief in the political system, as well as its objects, inputs,
and outputs.

Cognitive orientation refers to the number of information people have regarding political
objects such as pressure groups, state assemblies, executive bodies, and the judiciary

3. Affective orientation: This refers to people's level of commitment and interest in the
political system.
It is the feeling of attachment, involvement and rejection that people have towards the
political system.

It can also mean the feelings and emotions that people have about political objects.

For example, the support or opposition to the government constitutes effective

orientation

Types of political culture

1. Parochial culture: People in this type of political culture have little or no knowledge of
political events beyond outside their immediate political environment.
People do not participate actively in their countries' politics due to a lack of
understanding and low expectations from the government.
In societies with parochial political culture, people have little or no cognitive orientation
toward the political system and do not expect the government to deliver anything
positive.

This type of political culture is found in many traditional societies

2. Subject political culture: Here, people have a higher level of awareness.

However, citizens' expectations of the government are low, and political participation is
low.

People in this type of political culture have a cognitive orientation toward the output of
the system (such as the output of government welfare programs, and tax legislation) but
they are unable to influence the government because of low political participation.

Subject political culture is frequent in societies where the government expects

individuals to obey its orders and follow them without question.

Examples of subject political culture can be found in communist countries such as

Cuba, North Korea and China.

3. Participatory political culture: Here, citizens believe that they can influence
the government by actively participating in the government.
Citizens have high expectations of the government and take an active role in politics.

Examples of countries with participatory political cultures can be found in Britain, the
USA and other western countries with liberal democracy.

Determinants of political culture

1. Historical factors: History has a significant impact on political culture.
The French Revolution of 1989, for example, has had a significant impact on the political
culture of France.

2. Geographical factors: The location of a state has a large bearing on its political
culture.
Due to differences in geographical location, the political culture of the United States
differs from that of European countries.

3. Socio-economic factors: The political culture of a political system is influenced by

differences in social and economic elements.
4. Ethnic factors: Ethnic differences and conflicts in a country also affect the political
culture of that country.
For example, if there had been no racial discrimination, Africa's political culture might
have been different than it is now.

5. Religion: Political culture is shaped by religious homogeneity and diversity.

For example, religious differences between Muslims and Hindus led to the partition of
India in 1947.

6. Ideology of the political system: Another factor that shapes political culture is the
political ideology of the country.
For example, the ideology of the country might favour liberalism, conservatism,
communism, totalitarianism or even democracy.

Importance of political culture

1. It enables us to comprehend how citizens observed the law: Political culture helps us
understand how the laws of different countries are being observed by different
individuals and groups
It helps us see the attitude of people towards the laws, constitution and political system
of a country.

2. It helps us see connections: Political culture aids in the understanding of the

relationship between social and economic factors on the one hand, and political
development on the other.
3. Helps us understand political socialization: It helps us understand political
socialization and the transmission of political culture from generation to generation.
4. It helps us understand certain phenomena: Political socialization helps us understand
the reason that similar phenomena in different countries do not produce the same
outcome.

Relevance of political culture in politics

1. It is helpful to know the causes of political decay

2. It has made political science more practical

3. Political culture has increased the scope of political science

4. It is the basis for distinguishing between political systems

5. It contributes to the advancement of political change.

Criticism of political culture

1. It is not a new concept: Political culture is little more than a new label for old ideas
2. It is such an ambiguous concept: Political culture is a political concept because its
basic concept isn't fully developed.
More so, it is difficult to test the different theories of political culture
3. It is not a good barometer to know the behaviour of a man: It's difficult to get a full
picture of political culture because people's opinions and attitudes aren't always clear
and can't be represented as a whole.

Conclusion
The study of political culture is critical for every political system because it influences
the beliefs, views, values and attitudes of the people towards the political system,
political issues and political ideology.
 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Political participation is a term that is applied to the activities of people from all level of a political
system. Sometimes the term is applied more to political orientation than activities. It refers to those voluntary
activities by which members of the society have a share in the selection of rulers and directly or indirectly have a
role in the formation of public policy. These activities include voting, seeking information, discussing, attending
public meetings, contributing financially and communicating with representatives.
Definitions
Verba and Lucian Pye defines,” political participation as those activities by private citizens that are more or less
directly aimed at influencing the selection of governmental personnel and/or the actions they take”.
“Political participation is the involvement of masses in the decision-making process or policy-formulation” –Heinz
Eulau
“Political participation can be defined as the involvement of the members of society in the decision-making process”
– Almond and Powell.
Nature
The political participation of an individual depends upon four kinds of motives such as:-
1.Deferential participation – it results from the actor’s deep respect for and strong identification with the
influencer and his attendant desire to be and to appear to be influenced by him. This is typically found in the rural
areas of the less developed countries where villagers often vote en masse out of deference for their traditional
leaders.
2.Solidarity participation – it is motivated by a desire to affirm one’s solidarity and loyalty to his larger social group
such as village, clan, tribe, ethnic or religious community and social class etc.
3.Instrumental participation – is participation in anticipation of some kind of material gain. This type of
participation may take variety of forms, depending on the kind of incentives or inducements to which the voters
respond.
4.Civic participation – is based n a sense of moral obligation or duty to participate. This sense of obligation may be
derived from the beliefs about the nature of the good society or state or from strongly held positions on a single
issue or set of issues. In either case, the participant does not anticipate personal, communal or sectoral gain.
Forms of political Participation
1.Direct Political Participation – when people play a direct role in the election of their rulers and in the decision-
making or policy-formulation process, political participation is identified as Direct Political Participation.
2.Indirect Political Participation – In representative democracies, the people elect their representatives indirectly
and through them take part in the decision-making process. The representatives are accountable to the people and
they represent the people in the decision-making and policy-formulation.
3.Active Political Participation – When people actively participate in the political processes, leadership recruitment,
elections, electoral politics, political communication, party politics, pressure group activities etc., the political
participation is referred to as active political participation.
4.Low or Passive Political Participation – When the people have little interest in the political process and they are
not fully oriented towards the political system and its sub-systems which makes them politically apathetic, the
political participation is called Low or Passive.
5.Instrumental Political Participation – When people participate in politics with definite ends in view which they
want to achieve in politics, the political participation is identified as instrumental political participation
6.Expressive Political Participation – When people participate in politics without any commitment to a definite
objective but for satisfaction of their feelings or sentiments or emotions, the political participation is referred to as
Expressive political participation.
7.Political Participation through Legitimate Means – When people participate in the political process through
legitimate and constitutional means, the political participation is identified as Legitimate political participation.
8.Political Participation through Illegitimate Means – Participation in politics through violent and non-
constitutional means – riots, violent outbursts, destruction of public property, involvement in political violence,
electoral malpractices etc., fall under the category of political participation through illegitimate means.
9.Tutored and Coerced Political Participation – In Totalitarian and Authoritarian political system(Despotic and
Dictatorial States) the power holder always try to secure people’s participation in politics in a desired way. This is
designed to show the popularity and credibility of their dictatorial regimes. Such a political participations are unreal,
tutored and coerced political participation.

Determinants of Political Participation

The role that the people of a political system play in the political process, particularly in decision-making or policy-
formulation is influenced by several factors. These factors are referred to as the determinants of political
participation. They are:-
1.Psychological Factors – Participation in politics is influenced by several psychological factors. Several people
participate in politics for satisfying their psychological urges. Love for power and other values always impels people
to get involved in the political process. Many persons find the political field useful as it provides them opportunities
for winning over others or for reducing their tensions. The introverts are less likely to get involved in the struggle
for power.
2. Social Factors – Political participation is always affected by social factors, education, social stratification, sex, age,
caste, religion, language, residence, region, urban-rural gap and ethnicity. The nature and level of political
participation in societies which have a high literacy percentage always differ from societies with low literacy rate.
In developing societies like India, caste, religion, sex and language are the determinants of political behaviour and
political participation.
3. Political Factors – Political factors are always the major determinants of political participation. Nature of the
political system, the constitution of the state, the organisation of government nature and organisation of the
political parties, nature of press and other means of mass media etc., are all the determinants of political
participation. People have the right to vote, right to contest elections, right to hold public offices, freedom to
criticise the policies of the government and opinion on all subjects, freedom to form political parties, interest groups
and associations and freedom to participate at all levels of politics. These conditions encourage the people to
voluntarily participate in the process of decision-making.
4. Economic Factors – Economic motives always influence almost all human relations. These are also the
determinants of political behaviour and political participation. The expectation of rewards in terms of economic
gains always provides a basic incentive to people’s involvement in the political process. The urge to get involved in
the decision-making or policy-formulation is always governed by considerations of economic gains. The role of
money power in politics is a major factor of political participation in developing countries like India.
5. Environmental Factors – Political participation is also affected by environmental factors. Geography,
industrialisation, level of technology advancement and demographic features also determine the nature and level
of political participation. The people living in hot climate do not come forward to participate in political campaigns,
movements and elections, particularly during summer. People living in hilly areas are usually less active in politics.
Geography conditions as such influences their political participation.
6. Situational Factors – The existence of British rule over India and the need to end it acted as a strong motivation
in a big way. After Independence, the political legacies became the determinants of political participation in politics.
The emergency rule (1975-1977) also produced an increased political participation as a reaction against repressive
policies of this era. In every political system, the policies adopted and formulated by the government of the state
often act as inputs of political participation.
Conclusion
The concept of political participation gained prominence in political science literature mainly in the context of the
advanced capitalist societies of the West. Political participation is viewed as one of the major components of this
political stability. In recent years, the non-governmental organisations are often projected as appropriate agencies
for participatory development. The emergence of what has been called ‘new politics’ reflects some changes in the
nature of political participation.
Political Socialization may be defined as the process of transferring
knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and general dispositions about politics,
from one generation to the other, and that accumulates almost
unconsciously through citizens and people‘s interactions with social
institutions such as the family, the religious houses, the schools, the
tertiary institutions, the media, political parties and so on.
Theseinstitutions through which political socialization accumulates and
transfers are, in social sciences called agencies of political socialization.

Political socialization is the "process by which individuals learn and

frequently internalize a political lens framing their perceptions of
how power is arranged and how the world around them is (and should
be) organized; those perceptions, in turn, shape and define individuals'
definitions of who they are and how they should behave in the political
and economic institutions in which they live. Political socialization also
encompasses the way in which people acquire values and opinions that
shape their political stance and ideology: it is a "study of the
developmental processes by which people of all ages and adolescents
acquire political cognition, attitudes, and behaviors. It refers to a learning
process by which norms and behaviors acceptable to a well running
political system are transmitted from one generation to another. It is
through the performance of this function that individuals are inducted into
the political culture and their orientations towards political objects are
formed. Schools, media, and the state have a major influence in this
process.

Learning Objective

Knowledge acquire in this page shall enable you to understand:

(a) Definition of political socialization by scholars.

(b) Agents of Political Socialization

(c) Distinguishing between the primary and the secondary ones.

(d) Functions of Political Socialization

(e) Characteristics of Political Socialization

Definition of political socialization by

scholars
Foremost, we shall examine political socialization as it is defined by many
scholarly perspectives and period and shall equally provide some factors
that determine it.

Beginning from the earlier time, Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba define
political socialization as a: Learning process by which the norms
associated with the performance of political roles as well as fundamental
political values and guiding standards of political behavior are learned'.
This is contained in their article entitled, 'The Comparative Study of
Political Socialization.

Apart from this, Robert Levine asserts, the process of political

socialization as involving the acquisition by an individual, of behavioral
dispositions relevant to political groups, political systems and political
processes.

Let us put other definitions in more direct forms from the purview of other
scholars.

Eric Rowe: define political socialization as the process by which the

values, beliefs and emotions of a political culture are passed on to
succeeding generations‖.

Harry Eckstein: asserts that Political socialization is the process through

which operative social norms regarding politics are implanted, political
roles institutionalized and political consensus created, either effectively
or ineffectively.

Roberta Sigel: Also say that Political socialization is the learning process
by which the political norms and behaviors acceptable to an ongoing
political system are transmitted from generation to generation.

Gerald Bender: Furthermore, states that Political socialization is the

process through which the individual internalizes politically relevant
attitudes, beliefs, cognitions and values.

More recent definitions of political socialization include those of Eric

Siraev and Richard Sobel that says, Political socialization is a lifelong
process by which individuals learn political attitudes and behaviors. It is
part of the broader socialization process whereby an individual becomes
a member of a particular society and takes on its values and behaviors.
Social and cultural conditions mediate political socialization.

Powell & Cowart defined Political socialization as the study of the

developmental processes by which children of all ages (12 to 30), and
adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes, and behaviors‖.

It is believed that through the performance of the function of political

socialization that individuals are inducted into the political culture and
their orientations towards political objects are formed.

Although political socialization is made possible through certain agencies

certain factors still determine whether or not a person will be socialized
and in whatever direction. The factors are:

(a) Strength of Socializing Agency: It has been argued often that some
socializing agents are stronger and more effective than others. The family
for instance is the first agent of political socialization that a child is
exposed to at a tender age when his or her personality is still being
formed. This is followed by the Schools (elementary and secondary).
These two agencies are more effective in socializing people compared to
the media and the political party.

(b) Proximity to and Interaction with Socialization Agency: Agencies of

socialization become effective in the lives of those who are close to as
well as who interact with them. An atheist who has no religion is not, for
instance likely to be socialized by the church or the shrine, while an
illiterate introvert may miss the socializing opportunities offered by the
school and the peer group.

(c) Reinforcement System: Socialization patterns can sometimes depend

on reinforcement system. An agent that has a system of positive
reinforcement is more likely to be more effective in socializing people in
certain directions; vice versa. This is particularly true in families and
schools. If interest in politics is positively reinforced in the family and
school, children in the two institutions have better chances of political
socialization than where it is not.

(d) Period and Age of Socialization: Although socialization is a

continuous exercise in the life of man, social scientists agree that
personalities, believes and attitudes of people are often fully formed when
they are young, say below 20 years. The interpretation of this is that
socialization tends to be more effective when it occurs to people of tender
ages, and at the period of their lives during which their personalities are
being developed.

Agents of Political Socialization

The primary goals of this content are to discuss the agents of political
socialization. These agents refer to institutions and structures that
socialize people into politics, the agents that people are introduced to as
they grow up, and that affect their political views throughout the rest of
their lives.

There are many agents of political socialization which are not limited to
Family, Media, Peers, Education, Religion, Race, Gender, Age and
Geography, but in fact, at every point where man interacts with man, there
are bond be or exist political socialization.

In a sense we can divide the agents of political socialization into two

broad categories:

1. Primary Agents of Political Socialization

2. Secondary or Subordinate Agents of Political Socialization

The two categories shall be fully discussed.

Primary Agents of Political Socialization

The primary agents of political socialization are those that people first
come across when they are children and they unavoidably interact with as
they grow. Almost all human beings pass through these agents, though
not necessarily on their will. The primary agents of political socialization
in today‘s world include the family, the school, the peer group and the
religious gatherings. In the contemporary world these socialization
agencies can hardly be avoided, and they affect people‘s believes and
attitudes towards politics.

In what follows we shall discuss these agents one after the other.

(a) The Family: The family is a principal agent of political socialization, or

any other form of socialization at all. In fact, M. Kent Jennings in his 2007
work titled Political Socialization asserts that "from the early scholarly
inquiries on through to the present time, the role of the family as a prime
agent of socialization has occupied an imports in the literature". This is
because the family is a relatively small and enduring institution that
makes the processes of learning and imitation easier. Apart from this, the
family is the first point of call of the individual, and, to that extent, it
determines a lot about individual's behavior; including the political. Above
all, every human being, by no choice of theirs, is presumably born into a
family, so, except in few cases, every human being passes through the
socialization of the family.

(b) The School: Formal educational system organized in forms of schools

and colleges is a common phenomenon in the modern world. In fact, most
advanced countries of the world are beginning to lay claim to zero percent
illiteracy level in their society while third world countries are following suit.
The implication of this is that everyone in the society will now have to pass
through one form of school or the other. Thus, the school, like the family,
is an agent of socialization that is almost impossible to escape. Some
societies deliberately teach subjects such as civil education, political
history and government to educate their citizens on politics. National
anthems and other extra curriculum exercises are basically performed in
schools to expose students to certain values about politics. What most
people know and believe about politics is therefore, especially in today‘s
world, a function of school attendance. The school then qualifies as a
primary agency of political socialization.

(c) The Peer Group: Man, by nature, Aristotle has long insisted, is a
political animal. What you get from this is that man is a gregarious being
that love to live with, and around other men. In the process of this social
interaction peer groups are formed. These groups consist of people of
same or close age brackets, and members of the groups learn many
things socially from one another through emulation and reciprocal
determinism. If a person belongs to a peer group that is politically
conscious for instance, the tendency of the person to become very active
and interested in the politics of his nation is very high due to the kind of
socialization received in the course of interacting with his or her peers.
Peer group is also a primary agent of political socialization because it is
difficult to escape in the process of existing in the society. An even school
where the child is socialized is full of peer group influence, though many
peer groups also exist outside the school.

(d) Religious Gatherings: Apart from the family and the school, organized
religious gathering is another very strong agency of political socialization
in the modern world. It is almost inescapable today. When people gather
in the name of religion, they often inevitably discuss socio political issues
that concern them directly or indirectly, politics being, according to David
Easton, ―authoritative allocation of values in the society‖. Values that
may be authoritatively allocated to, or omitted from people‘s homes,
families, streets, work places, states of residence, international relation
and so on, often make people relate with politics even in religious
gatherings where they are supposed to be worshiping. Today, religious
associations sponsor candidates into elective positions in order to gain
influence. Citizens of some countries consider the religious affiliation of
a political candidate as determinant of his or her capacity to rule, and such
beliefs color behavior even in elections.

The discussions and decision on these political issues are often taken in
religious gatherings; hence, religion becomes a strong agent of political
socialization. In summary, take a look at your life today, the foregoing four
structures family, school, peer groups that is friends and colleagues- as
well as your religious gathering are four structures that you constantly
interact with almost on weekly basis, and in all of them, it is almost certain
that politics is discussed either directly or indirectly. This makes the four
of them primary agents of political socialization.
Secondary or Subordinate Agents of Political
Socialization

Structures and institutions such as the media and political parties are not
common to all men; they are optional, so they belong to the secondary
political socialization agents. Other ones in this category are gender and
age which are though common to all men, yet, do not command strong
organizational political influence that, say, the church and the school may
have. Let us examine these four agents of political socialization in details.

(a) The Media: The media is a strong agent of political socialization. The
print media produces newspapers and magazines while the electronic
media comes in forms of radio and television. In all of these media politics
and political issues are discussed in daily basis. In fact, it has been argued
by Allan Smith that the 21st century press media is a political media as
majority of the news items are either completely political or are connected
to politics. The most recent one is the social media: the Facebook and the
Twitters that are fast penetrating the whole world. Issues discussed in all
these media create values, attitudes and believes in people, and as such,
stand as means of socializing them into politics as well as influencing
their political behavior.

(b) Political Party: A political party is an organized body of people who

participate in political activities with the sole aim of getting political
power. Membership of a political party automatically translates to
discussion and practice of political activities, with all the pranks, and the
intrigues. People who belong to political parties learn a great deal of their
political tricks, values, orientations, opinions and believes from them, so,
the political party is a very strong agent of political socialization. In
specific terms, political parties have orientations and ideological divides.
There are left wing parties, right wing parties, mass parties and so on, and
the orientation that is dominant in each of these parties are systematically
handed down to their members from one generation to another. In Britain
you have the conservative (right wing) and the labour (left wing) political
parties. In the United States it is between the Republican (right wing) and
the Democrat (left wing) parties. Although Nigerian political parties have
been unstable and episodic since independence, the current ideological
divide still stands between the PDP and the APC.

(c) Gender: Until recently when universal adult suffrage has permeated
the whole world, gender was a very key issue in political socialization. In
the earlier Athenian society in Greece, women were not allowed to
participate in politics, and so it was in some other parts of the world. The
implication is that men would be differently socialized to form different
believes opinions and orientation of politics, compared to women. Now
that the dichotomy is changing rapidly, and universal adult suffrage is
gaining popularity around the world; women‘s socialization in politics is
fast taking different dimension. Conversely, in the old Oyo kingdom where
women were known to occupy important political positions such as
Iyalode, Iyaloja and Iyalaje, and where they exerted great influence in the
politics of their people, there was a difference in gender relationship with
politics, and this created egalitarian and democratic values among the
people. You may wish to read Eesuola‘s. Using Indigenous Political
Structures to Facilitate Democratic Ideals in Nigeria: Lessons from Pre-
Colonial Yoruba Kingdom, published in the University of Lagos, Nigeria,
Sociological Review, Volume 9, 2011.

(d) Age: Also unlike gender, age was and is still a strong factor in the
politics of courtiers. Today, as a result of universal adult suffrage, most
constitutions allow citizens of eighteen years to vote and be voted for. In
some countries where gerontology is common in political activities, only
old people take certain electoral positions in politics. These different
practices in different societies often shape opinions and orientations of
people towards politics, so, age is equally an agent of political
socialization. Let us also quickly add that socialization may involve an
individual's formative years, or his mature years, or both. Political
socialization through the primary agency is not only latent, but also tends
to occur during the formative years of an individual. Political socialization
through secondary agencies, on the other hand, tends to be manifest and
to occur during an individual's relatively mature years. Political
socialization can produce either systemic or non-systemic change.
Systemic change refers to a fundamental or far-reaching change in the
distribution or exercise of authority in the political system. Non-systemic
change, on the other hand, refers to relatively insignificant or incremental
changes in the patterns of political participation and association which do
not alter or upset the existing distribution of power and authority in the
polity. Indeed, generally speaking, political socialization is essentially a
stabilizing process and hardly produces systemic change. The political
socialization process becomes destabilizing, or produces systemic
change, only under conditions of rapid modernization or general societal
crisis.

Functions of Political Socialization

(a) Inter-generational Transmission of Political Values: Political
socialization assists every society in preserving political culture across
time. It also helps to inculcate political values and orientation in people.
This is the function we call inter-generational transmission of political
norms, and, by extension, values, symbols and ideas. For instance, a
person who attends the university, majors in engineering and later gets
employment in an engineering firm may not at all understand the workings
of law making and recall except he or she witnessed it at the level of
students union which the school as an agent of political socialization
offers. In an increasingly complicated world where politics is fast
becoming everyone‘s business even though we do not all major in politics,
agents of socialization serves the purpose of transmitting political values
and norms from one generation to the other, and this helps in ensuring
stability in the society.

(b) Stability of Polity: By virtue of performing the foregoing function of

inter-generational transmission of values and inculcation of political
culture, political socialization helps to maintain continuity and stability in
the society. Such stability is needed to advance the course of the society
from all walks of life. To the extent that political socialization is a means
of role-training therefore, it, at any time equips the members of a society
with the basic skills necessary for political participation or the
performance of important political roles.

(c) Creation of Hegemonic: Order Political socialization helps the society

to create hegemonic order. Every political environment needs hegemony
to stabilize and develop, hegemony being a subtle, non-coerced
assimilation of how things are done in a society. Political socialization
helps a society to foster this, and every member of the society needs only
little push or coercion to obey the law and promote good values.

(d) National Discipline: National discipline is very important in political

socialization. The reason is that it makes it easy to ensure some degree
of discipline among members of a political community. In other words,
political socialization curbs or controls disruptive political behavior by
ensuring that members of a society behave in a manner that is socially
acceptable to the majority of the people, and especially the hegemonic
class.

Furthermore, political socialization assists in promotion of patriotism and

nationalism. People, who learn the political values, believe and
orientations of their people and hand the same down from one generation
to the other tend to become obsessed with it. They see themselves as
being embedded in such values and ideas and are often willing to defend
and promote it at any time necessary. This is called patriotism, and it is
useful for the domestic and international aura of a state.
Political socialization performs some functions in the polity. These
functions are basically for continuity and stability among politicians and
other actors that are involved in politics. Moreover, they affect not only
the political, but also the economic and social strata of a political
community.

Characteristics of Political Socialization

There some features of political socialization. These are:

1. Political socialization is the pinnacle of a society’s political values or

culture. Any education, therefore, is not political socialization.

2. The purpose of political socialization is to educate and enhance the

members of the society politically, to see them become effective
members of the political society, and to preserve the continuity of the
political values of the society.

3. Early childhood is an important time for political socialization. But this

is not limited to a few years of childhood. Political socialization continues
throughout the life of the individual.

4. Political socialization occurs mainly in three ways – imitation,

instruction, and motivation. Imitation tendency is more prevalent in
children, whereas adolescents and adults have a combination of
imitation, instruction, and motivation.

5. Through the process of political socialization, the increase in support,

support for the prevailing political system, the values in favor of
conventional institutions, the legitimacy of the government are increased.

6. All persons belonging to a political society are subject

Political development is a more elusive concept than economic
development. It is more controversial in normative terms and more
difficult to measure in empirical and operational terms. It is used
frequently by both normative and non-normative or existential
thinkers. Normative theorists stress that a political system
develops as it approaches the good political order.

They devote less attention to systematic statement of conditions

which give rise to and maintain political development, and are
more concerned with specifying ends and justification for having
such political development. The existentialists spend more time on
specifying the characteristics of what they regard as politically
developed systems and the conditions and processes which give
rise to them. Lucian W. Pye has vividly examined diversity in the
explanation of the concept of political development.

Political development has been variously explained as:

1. Political prerequisite of economic development;

2. The politics typical of industrial and advanced societies;

3. Political modernisation under which advanced nations are

regarded as pace-setters;

4. The operations of a nation-state;

5. Administrative and legal development, it includes all colonial

practices and authoritative structures

6. Mass mobilisation and participation involving new standards of

loyalty and demagoguery;

7. The building of democracy;

8. Stability and orderly change;

9. Mobilisation and power; and

10. One aspect of a multi-dimensional process of social change
regards it unnecessary to isolate political development from other
aspects coming under the total process of modernisation.

There are other interpretations also, such as, national self-respect,

attainment of dignity in international affairs, etc. But according to
Pye, most of them create confusion. According to him, these
various interpretations share some broad characteristics, which can
provide the basis of agreement.

He categorises them under three aspects and interlinks them in

the form of development syndrome:
(a) Spirit or attitude towards equality:
It includes participation, universalistic nature, standards of
achievement etc.;

(b) Capacity of political system:

It is related to outputs: economy, performance of government,
effectiveness and efficiency, rationality in administration, and
secularisation of public policies; and

(c) Differentiation:
It involves increase of structures, institutions, division of labour,
specialisation, followed by ultimate sense of integration. Thus,
political development, according to him, is a three-dimensional
process of equality, capacity, and differentiation. He admits that
these do not necessarily or easily fit together.

Rather, acute tensions and problems are generated by them.

Pressure for greater equality can challenge the capacity of the
system, and differentiation can reduce equality by stressing the
importance of quality and special knowledge. His development
syndrome is also unilinear. Problems of equality relate to political
culture and sentiments about legitimacy and commitment to the
system.

Capacity-problems involve the performance of authoritative

structures of government. Problems pertaining to differentiation
strike at the performance of the non-authoritative structures and
the general political process in the society at large. In any case,
political development revolves around the relationships between
political culture, the authoritative structures, and the general
political process.