Political Behaviour, Political Socialization and Political Culture Flashcards
What is political culture?
The attitudes, feelings, ideas, and values that people have about politics, government, and their own role, and more generally about authority in all its various forms
What is political culture?
The attitudes, feelings, ideas, and values that people have about politics, government, and their own role, and more generally about authority in all its various forms
What are the three types of political cultures?
Participant: People are active and closely watch politics
Subject: More passive
Parochial: Don’t care
Parochial Political Culture
Individuals feel that government is remote and isolated from their daily lives. Citizens identify with their immediate localities (hence parochial) such as district or inner-city communities. They do not desire to participate in politics and often feel that they are powerless against the impact of politics on their lives.
Subject Political Culture
Here, individuals view themselves not as participants but rather as subjects of their governments.
• Citizens understand and pay attention to politics but their participation at best is passive.
• Among young people, there is often a distant orientation towards politics.
• They remain distant from political participation albeit recognizing the impact of government on their lives.
Participant Political Culture
This is identified as the highest type of political culture.
• Here citizens believe that not only are their lives directly affected by politics but that they can also directly affect outcomes with their active participation in politics.
• They take pride in electoral participation, participate in voluntary organizations and often have a high degree of interpersonal trust while holding their representatives accountable.
What are some determinants of political culture?
• Historical Factors
• Geographical Factor
• Social Factors
• Economic Factors
• Technological Factors
What is political socialization?
(Hague and Harrop p. 101).
➢It is the mechanism through which we come to learn and understand politics.
➢It involves “the acquisition of emotions, identities and skills as well as information.
➢Its main dimensions are what people learn (content) when they learn it (timing and sequence) and from whom (agents).
(Trevor Munroe, 1993 p. 1)
➢Political socialization may be defined as the induction of a people into a national political culture – “our political upbringing”
Three general points of socialization
□ Socialization can occur in different ways. For e.g. Law, media, education, religion, family, geographic area, socioeconomic status
□ Socialization is a lifelong process.
□Patterns of socialization can be either unifying or divisive.
Who (subjects) → learns what (political values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours) → from whom (agents) → under what circumstances → with what effects.
What are the two types of agents of socialization?
(Munroe 2002, p. 25) observed:
- Primary Agents of Socialization
✓Informal, unstructured and unorganized - Secondary Agents of Socialization
✓ formal structures
What are the Agents of political socialization?
➢ The family
➢ Schools and educational mechanisms
➢ Religious institutions
➢ The mass media
➢ Peers
➢ Political parties and governmental agencies*
Inflencers of political behavior and socialization
Agents of socialization [transmitters] will always influence political behaviour and political socialization.
Other influencers:
• Weather
• Natural disasters/ Pandemics
• Key political/social events
• Group Differences
• Gender
• Racial
• ethnic background
• Social class/wealth
• Political Generations
Inflencers of political behavior and socialization
Agents of socialization [transmitters] will always influence political behaviour and political socialization.
Other influencers:
• Weather
• Natural disasters/ Pandemics
• Key political/social events
• Group Differences
• Gender
• Racial
• ethnic background
• Social class/wealth
• Political Generations
What is a political ideology?
Political ideology refers to a set of beliefs, values, and principles that
shape an individual’s understanding of the world and their political
stance.
Extra*『 It provides a framework for interpreting political issues and
events, influencing opinions, attitudes, and actions in the political
realm. Ideology, while closely tied to culture, is more complex and often contested in its definition. At its core, it pertains to how individuals make sense of the world around them by mediating the relationship between personal political psychologies and broader social structures. In this way, ideology shapes both individual beliefs and the organization of society (McAuley, 2003).
What is Political polirization?
Political polarization refers to the growing divide between opposing political ideologies, leading to a more extreme alignment on issues and decreasing willingness to compromise.
It not only intensifies partisan divisions but also exacerbates hostility between political groups, as seen in various countries, including the United States (McCarty, Poole, & Rosenthal, 2006).
