The terms political culture and socialization are all important in describing the political system of a particular society. Dickerson et al., defines political culture as the attitudes of people in a society towards certain notions, principles, and habits related to their government and politics (49). On the other hand political socialisation can be defined as the learning process in which the beliefs, traditions, and values that are accepted by a political system are transmitted from one generation to another (Greenberg 13). It is from this knowledge that we can safely say that the political culture of a society is directly related to its political socialization where the political culture of a society is acquired through political socialization.
There are many political systems all based on certain beliefs hence its culture and which came about through specific political socializations. The major basic forms of political systems that are found in large societies are: democracy; communism; monarchies; feudalism; and republics (Books 5). In any political system the concept of political culture is important to the society, politics and government through aspects in: promoting the relationship between the government and its people; identifying the rights and responsibility of the people; determining the obligations of the government; and identifying the limits of the government authority.
Therefore in analysing the political culture of any society it can be found that it is divided in three levels, that are, system level, process level, and policy level (Fulga 135). The system level incorporates the views of leaders and citizens on the values that hold the political system together for instance government legitimacy, national pride and identity. The second level refers to the expectations of political functions and people’s relationship to the political system, for instance citizen roles, rights perceptions, and government principles. The third level refers to expectations of people and leaders to the policies from the government; they include government policy priorities, and government roles.
The political socialization of different societies differs from place to place but it is through these different processes that result to cultures which in turn result to a political system. Socialization process is perpetual in an individual’s life time and can take place directly or indirectly. Direct socialization is where information, values, or feelings towards politics is communicated explicitly while indirect socialization is where political views are unconsciously moulded through experience (Greenberg 15). Agents that promote political socialization include: schools, family, religious institutions, events, mass media, peer groups, and the government itself (Greenberg 16). Socialization can be of essence when unifying people when a conflict arises or when dividing people through creation of subcultures.
In conclusion, it is important for any society to promote positive political socialization that would unify the people into political culture that would benefit the present and future political system of a specific society. Through the national pride that is incorporated in the first level of a political culture people in a society can be brought together in times of political strain such as ethnicity or even genocide (Fulga 136). Furthermore, the legitimacy of the government will be promoted hence facilitating its easier functionality. Also through definition of citizen’s roles in a society in the process level, citizens in a political system can be able to define their roles as either subjects, parochial, or even participants. The political cultures and socialization also matter in a political system when making guidelines of the constituents of a good society and ways of combining values, beliefs, and habits to form desired social outcomes (Fulga 145).
Works Cited
Books, LLC. (2010). Political Culture: Anarchism, Oligarchy, Classical Liberalism, Corporatism, Democratic Socialism, Theories of Political Behavior, Collectivism. New York: General Books, LLC. Pp. 2-67
Dickerson, M.O., Flanagan, T., and O’Neill, B. (2009). An introduction to Government and Politics: a conceptual approach. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Pp. 49-67
Fulga, G. (2005). Social Change and Political Culture. Liege: Editions I’ULG, pp.135-153
Greenberg, S.E. (edt). (2009). Political Socialization. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Pp. 13-21
