Political Socialization Essay is presented here. In the same way that political culture is a specialized part of culture, political socialization is a specialized part of socialization. Socialization refers to the total process of learning how to interact with other people and of developing our individual personalities. There is fairly widespread agreement on the components of a definition of political socialization. even though political scientists disagree about whether we should emphasize child learning, the content of what is learned, and/or adult learning about politics.
‘”Political is the gradual learning Of the norms, attitudes, and behavior accepted and practiced by the ongoing political system.” Its goal “is to so train or devei(X) individuals that they become well-functioning members of the political society.” that is a person ‘who accepts (internalizes) society’s political norms and who will then transmit them to future generations.
Socialization refers to the process by which persons acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that make them more or less able members of their society. ‘ ‘t Political socialization is a process of learning about politics. People are taught to participate or not to participate. They are taught what is proper behavior, how to interact with other people and with government. In modern developing systems people may be taught to focus their energies on national development. In democratic countries people may be taught they have a right, perhaps even a duty, to participate. In most political systems people are taught to disapprove of dissent.
The essence of political socialization, therefore, involves learning, teaching, acceptance, and transmission of group values and norms. As a working definition, we may consider political socialization as the continuing process by which people acquire motivations, information. norms, attitudes. and values about their society, economy, political system. and their role or place in these. People become members of their political system through political socialization. They learn what is expected of them and how to live and interact with society and the political system. The content of this learning is different from system to system and even within the same political system, because of different experiences.
Regardless of the content, however, political socialization refers to political learning, and that is where its importance lies. Throughout the rest of this chapter we will be concerned largely with the process of political socialization, which shows less variations within and across systems than does the content of political socialization.
