Political Socialization: Agents, Processes and Impacts Essay

This essay delves into the concept of political socialization, an enduring process through which individuals develop their political beliefs and values. It highlights the significant roles of various agents, including family, education, peer groups, and social media, in shaping political attitudes. The essay focuses on non-manifesto political socialization, where political views are unintentionally formed through experiences like parental and teacher relationships. It outlines the three modes of non-manifesto socialization: transference, apprenticeship, and generalization. The essay further examines the primary and secondary agents of political socialization, such as family, schools, political parties, and social media. It emphasizes the lasting influence of education and the role of institutions in shaping political philosophy, occurring at both individual and communal levels. The essay concludes by highlighting the constant and ongoing nature of political socialization, emphasizing its profound impact on individuals and society.

Politics

The political socialization is an enduring process through which persons custom their
philosophies about the politics and obtains political morals. The education system, family,
peer groups and social media play protagonist. The family and school are considered
significant in the early life. The thinking of the peers, news broadcasted in the newspaper and
the TV has more impact on the political attitudes as adults.
The indirect or non-manifesto is one of the forms of political socialisation. This form of
the political socialization is used when political views are unintentionally formed by the
experiences. Such experiences are usually made when a person is a young child like parental
and teacher relationships (Quintelier, 2015). The non-manifesto works on the three modes
given below:
 Transference: Transference is a type of non-manifesto political socialization. This
form of the political socialization makes possible the values and thoughts of a person
to transfer to other person or persons.
 Apprenticeship: It comprises learning of the habits and behaviour favourable to the
political activities.
 Generalization: This procedure of the non- manifesto works for simplification to
extent from social values to the political aims.
The non-manifesto political socialization initiates with the non-political objects,
orientations and terminates into the political orientation. It comprises mainly fundamental
characteristics of the ordinary culture which have great effect on the political province. It
takes place by specific channels. They are identified as the common conditions and attitudes
leading to the political action. For instance, involvement in the college and university politics
supports the framework for the future role in the politics (Grasso, et al. 2017). It has strong
political conviction and has capability in building a robust political faith. The non-manifesto
political socialization acts through the several channels. The political experiences in the
schools and colleges leave an enduring influence in the individual’s mind. The output can be
attained by bringing a change in the individual’s attitude towards politics.
The non-manifesto political socialization is a procedure by which political philosophy can
be conveyed in the society. It takes place at both individual and communal level and ranges
away from the acquisition to incorporate learning of more sophisticated political ideas and
orientations. A large number of persons and institutions have role in shaping its effect. It is a
constant and never ending process (Bar-Tal, Diamond & Nasie, 2017). The groups and

institutions participating in the on-going political socialization process are identified as the
socialization agent. The agents are categorised into the primary and secondary agents
concerning political socialization. The primary agents directly develop the specific political
orientation. The primary agents identified are peer group, family and educational institutions.
On the other side, secondary agents are less personal and comprised in the socialization
process in the unintended manner. The secondary political socialization agents include
political parties, social media, voluntary organizations and government. The education
institutions have great role in non-manifesto political socialization by the contents of the
courses in schools and institutions. The teaching of the subjects such as civics, history,
languages and textbooks play a significant part in the process of the non-manifesto political
socialization (White & Mistry, 2016).

References
Bar-Tal, D., Diamond, A. H., & Nasie, M. (2017). Political socialization of young children in
intractable conflicts: Conception and evidence. International Journal of Behavioral
Development, 41(3), 415-425.
Grasso, M. T., Farrall, S., Gray, E., Hay, C., & Jennings, W. (2017). Thatcher’s children,
Blair’s babies, political socialization and trickle-down value change: An age, period
and cohort analysis. British Journal of Political Science, 1-20.
Quintelier, E. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of political participation intention. Acta
Politica, 50(3), 279-296.
White, E. S., & Mistry, R. S. (2016). Parent civic beliefs, civic participation, socialization
practices, and child civic engagement. Applied Developmental Science, 20(1), 44-60.