Matriz de problemáticas

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UNIT 6 POLITICAL SOCIALISATION

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breast and having digested it, freely evacuating the waste products, exploring his genitals, biting and kicking at will must be chanted into a responsible adults obeying rules of his society” (Anifowose, 1999: 218).

As the child develops, he learns new habits and behaviours from members of his immediate environment. The ways and manner through which the political culture of the society is being transmitted from one generation to the other is political socialisation.

Ayeni-Akeke defines political socialisation as “a process of learning by means of which citizens are inculcated with the norms, values, skills, understanding, modes of behaviour and so on that enable them to participate effectively in the activities of their political communities”

(Ayeni-Akeke, 2008:76). Political socialisation involves transmitting the values and norms of the society from generation to generation.

Gabriel Almond in Anifowose defines it as “the process of induction into the political culture. The end product is a set of attitudes, cognitions, value standards and feelings towards the political system, its various roles, and role incumbents. It also includes knowledge of values, affecting and feelings towards the input demands and claims into the system, and its authoritative outputs” (Anifowose, 1999: 219). The essential point is the acquisition and transfer of necessary values, behavioural pattern and expected roles of an individual

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE i. Define political socialisation.

ii. Describe the essential features of these definitions.

3.2 Method of Political Socialisation

We noted above that political social socialisation is a lifelong process that begins from childhood until death. Political socialisation can take place by two methods. Direct political socialisation is the process whereby individual directly and consciously learn the behavioural patterns of his community. A child can learn through the instinct of imitation. Several times, we see children imitating their parents, friends and colleagues. They copy other people’s behaviours, values, etc.

It must be emphasised that children are easily influenced by what they see and hear. There is hardly any political system where authorities do not teach and encourage their citizens to learn and inculcate essential values that are regarded as idea. Authorities establish formal structures for training of citizens while parents and teachers inculcate good moral habits in their children and pupils. The importance of political experience cannot be overemphasised. We daily come in contact with people in various fields and we unconsciously learn from them.

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Ayeni-Akeke puts it succinctly “while a great deal of political socialisation occurs through formal and overt indoctrination, the more fundamental means through which the components of political culture are grafted into the mental and emotional make-up of individuals is often informal and spontaneous” (Ayeni-Akeke, 2008: 76). We learn many things through daily experience and interaction with others in the society.

Indirect Political Socialisation

Basically, when one learns unconsciously the roles, values, skills and attitudes of his political community, we call it indirect socialisation. It is very different from direct socialisation where one is basically taught the values that are crucial and ideals expected of an individual. It requires learning relevant political behaviours.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

i. Analyse how we unconsciously learn from other people.

ii. Define direct political association.

3.3 Agents of Political Socialisation

Let us look at some of the agents of political socialisation and these are:

the family, educational institutions, mass media, religious groups, peer group, political parties and pressure groups. The most important among the agents of political socialisation is the family. This is because the family plays a great role in the life of the child. It is the first human group that the child would have contact with and particularly in the formative years. The family socialises the child into politics.

Babawale describes it vividly when he said “our first political and politically – relevant learning occurs within the family. The learning are most informal, unintentional and often subconscious” (Anifowose, 1999: 221). Naturally, the family provides the initial basic necessities of the child for his survival, i.e. food, clothing shelter, affection, etc. The family exerts overwhelming and lifelong influence on the child.

Next to the family are the educational institutions. Here the process of political socialisation is formal. Governments all over the word use educational institutions to inculcate necessary political values, skills and attitudes into their citizens through its curriculum and other class rituals.

Babawale emphasised the importance of schools in the total development of the child. He said “The school contributes significantly in shaping an individual’s political behaviours.

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It is in the school that the most formal political socialisation takes place because one is directly taught and trained to obey the rules of the society. Through well defined methods, the school formally inculcates political beliefs into the individual (Anifowose, 1999: 222). The influence of peer group is of paramount importance regarding political socialisation. Naturally, a person is known by the type of friends he keeps. The friends can easily influence his views including his views on politics.

The mass media both electronic and print media plays significant role as an agent of political socialisation. These are radio, television, magazines newspapers, etc. They disseminate information and analyse political issues to listeners and readers alike. Other agents of political socialisation include pressure groups and political parties. Political parties educate the electorate about their manifestoes, campaigns, rallies and give up-to date political information.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit, we said political socialisation is a process through which an individual learns the values, attitudes and behaviours of the society in which he lives. This is possible through interaction and association with other people in the society.

5.0 SUMMARY

Political socialisation is a lifelong process that begins from childhood until death. An individual keeps on learning the necessary values, norms, skills, attitudes and behaviour of his immediate environment.

This can be done through direct political socialisation and indirect political socialisation. We also discussed agents of political socialisation and we remarked that the family is very important as an agent of political socialisation since the family plays a great role in personality development of the child.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

2. Examine the various agents of political socialisation.

3. Briefly describe the roles of parents, schools, peer group and the mass media in political socialisation.

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7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Akinbade, J. A. (2008). Government Explained. Lagos: Macak Books Ventures.

Anifowose, R. (1999). Lagos: Elements of Politics. Ikeja: Malthouse Press.

Ayeni-Akeke, A. (2008). Foundation of Political Science. Ibadan:

Ababa Press Ltd.

Hyman, H. (1959). Political Socialisation. New York: Free Press of Glencoc.

Johari, J.C. (2011). Principles of Modern Political Science. India:

Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd.

Shively, W. (2008). An Introduction to Political Science. (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

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MODULE 2 CLASSIFICATIONS OF PARTY SYSTEM