POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIALIZATION AND Influential group memberships:

CULTURE
Families Religious groups
POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY Ethnic groups Schoolmates
- study of political behavior Friends/Age group Work associates
Neighbors Social classes
Factors of Political Psychology:
1. Biological nature and needs Variable impact of group membership factors:
 Human desire to live, act in order to
have what it takes to survive – food, 1. Group’s importance for the individual
shelter, clothing and the security of all 2. Perceived political relevance
these 3. Transmission of the group’s political standards
 Human desire to reproduce
Biological COGNITIVE
2. Personality and environment
Nature & Needs MAP
 Kurt Lewin
B = f(PE) Psychological Perceptions Political
“Behavior or any kind of mental event Processes Behavior
Conceptualizations
depends on the state of the person and
Membership in
at the same time on the environment” Effective
Social Groups
3. Psychological Processes and Cognitive Maps Connotations
 Cognitive Map – a mental picture of POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
what the physical and social worlds are
like and how we relate to them - developmental process from which people
Main elements of Cognitive Maps: acquire their political orientations and patterns
I. Perception – awareness of an aspect of of behavior (Ranney)
reality derived from sensory processes *developmental – childhood to old age
 Perceptual screens – signals must pass - Process by which political culture is transmitted
through these before becoming part of and maintained, transformed, or created, at
one’s cognitive map both the individual and community level
II. Conceptualization – giving the signals (Jackson and Jackson)
meaning by putting them into what we - It refers to the processes through which a citizen
think are appropriate categories acquires his or her own view of the political
 Conceptual framework – the mental world (Dawson and Kenneth)
categories into which people sort - It is the process of interaction between the
perceptions of the world and give the learners and certain elements of their
perceptions meaning environment generally called socializing agents.
Levels of Conceptualization
a. Ideology Agents of Political Socialization:
b. Group benefits
c. Nature of the times  Families
d. No issue content  Schools
III. Affect – the emotion attached to an  Peer groups
idea or an object, based on the  Mass communication media
conceptual framework of the individual  Religion
or group; quality that makes people  Political events
oppose or support  Government
4. Group memberships and pressures to conform – POLITICAL CULTURE
certain pressures work for uniformity of opinion
and behavior among members - It is a broad pattern of values and attitudes that
 Primary groups – members have individuals and societies hold toward political
regular face-to-face interactions objects (Verba)
Sources of pressures:
a. Limit the signals the members
receive and therefore affect their
ideas of what the world is like
b. Most people want to be regarded as
normal and part of the group, not
eccentric - Broadly shared set of ways of thinking about
c. May feel that expressing opinions politics and government, a pattern of
that are sharply different is not good - orientations to political objects (Ranney)
nor beneficial to the group
 Components of Political Culture
1. Cognitive orientations – perception and
awareness
2. Affective orientations – “political preferences”
3. Evaluative orientations – judgments or
assessments about the objects and feelings
The Concept Of Culture
- Culture is the set of learned behaviors, beliefs,
attitudes, values and ideas that are
characteristic of a particular society or people.
- Culture is shared, learned, adaptive, integrated,
and changing.
Cultural Formation of Political Values and their Impact
on the Political Process (Lawson)
Overarching Bond of Components of National Political
Culture (Jackson and Jackson)
Ideologies Geography
Beliefs Traditions
CITIZENS Values Myths
Symbols Customs
History Heroes
Political Subcultures
- Exist within the overarching national culture.
May be based on class, ethnicity, language,
religion, or gender
Differences among cultures (Ranney)
 Patriotism/identification with the nation or
sense of national identity - attachment or loyalty
 Trust in people – general belief in honesty and
veracity
 Confidence in institutions – belief of legitimacy
 Political efficacy – belief that one’s political
views can affect the political process
 Citizens’ obligations – what citizens think they
owe the government
IDEOLOGY
- A value system or belief system accepted as fact
or truth by some group. It is composed of sets of
attitudes toward the various institutions and
processes of society. (Sargent, 1990)
- is comprehensive, provides picture of the world
both as it is and as it should be, it organizes the
complexity of the world into something fairly
simple and understandable
- refers to a set of ideas and beliefs which makes
clear what is of value and what is not, what
must be maintained and what must be changed,
and what shapes the attitudes of those who
share it (Macridis)
Four Main Criteria For Distinguishing Ideologies From
Ideas (Macridis)
 Comprehensiveness – it includes ideas of many
great numbers
 Pervasiveness – it has shaped the political beliefs
and actions of many people
 Extensiveness – the set of ideas is held by a large
number of people and play a significant role in
the political affairs of one or more states
 Intensiveness – the set of ideas commands a
strong commitment from many of its adherents
or believers
Some Intellectual Components of Ideologies: (Ranney)
1. Values – some things are to be sought as they
are more important than others
2. Vision of the ideal polity – what a polity would
be like if it were organized and managed in the
best possible manner
3. Conception of human nature – beliefs about
what makes people, societies and governments
behave as they do
4. Strategy of action – for exchanging the existing
polity into the ideal polity
5. Political tactics – modes of political action based
on the strategy
Some FUNCTIONS of Ideologies:
 Justification for and against the status quo
(present social and political system)
 Citizen cohesion and unity
 Symbolic communication between leaders and
led
 Guide to policy choices and political behavior
 Explains the meaning of human existence and
purposes of action
Ideologies of LIMITS ON GOVERNMENT
1. Constitutionalism
- Government power should be limited as to
protect human rights
- There are constitutional guarantees for the
protection of human rights
o Rights as ENDS, that governments should
protect and preserve
o Rights as MEANS, for good government,
good society, and good life
 2. Totalitarianism  The only authority that has moral and legitimate
- Government control all aspects of citizens’ force is the authority that each individual gives
lives to himself
Characteristics: Views on EQUALITY and FREEDOM
a. Official ideology  “Equality is a necessary condition for freedom”
b. Single mass political party  “All institutions in society – religious, economic,
c. Single terroristic police control political – compromise individual freedom… If a
d. Complete control of mass media man is to be truly free, these institutions must
e. Monopoly of means of armed combat be abolished.”
f. Control of economy
Views on HUMAN NATURE
Ideologies of ECONOMIC CONTROL
 People are capable of both freedom and
1. Capitalism cooperation
- Production and distribution of goods and  People are willing and able to help each other
services are based on private ownership of
capital and enterprises Views on SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
 Laissez faire (“leave alone”) – minimum  Any form of social organization or order must
government intervention in economic affairs only be for the “administration of economic life”
Doctrine = “government is best which  Organizations must be voluntary, functional,
governs least” temporary and small
Characteristics: Two major types:
a. Private ownership of property (no legal limit) A. Collectivist anarchism – the belief that some
b. Free market (no government intervention in form of collective social organization is
the economy) necessary to improve the individuals’ existence
c. Profit motive B. Individualist anarchism – the belief that
2. Socialism individuals must decide the relationship in which
- Economic systems in which the means of they want to live. It is their life; they must be
production and distribution of goods and free to live it as they choose
services are publicly owned and operated
through the government VIOLENT or NON-VIOLENT method of abolishing
social institutions (major source of disagreement
Characteristics: among anarchists)
a. Much property is held by the public: most 2. COMMUNISM
major industries, utilities, transportation - The Communist Manifesto” – Karl Marx,
system Friedrich Engels
b. Limit of accumulation of private property - “The history of all hitherto existing society is
c. Governmental regulation of economy the history of class struggles”
d. Extensive publicly financed assistance and
pension programs (social welfare and Stages of Economic Organization
security)
Overthrow of bourgeois, a
 The “Mixed Economy” Revolution Communism
“class-less society”
e.g. private property and enterprises, is
Some individuals have
governmental regulation of economy, necessary
acquired private property
social security programs and
and capital
inevitable Capitalism
The capitalist = bourgeois
(Lenin and
The LEFT – RIGHT Ideological Spectrum The worker class =
Mao)
proletariat
Anarchism Socialism Conservatism Some individuals acquired
Communism Liberalism Fascism Feudalism ownership of lands and
the people of those lands
Some individuals “own”
other individuals, slaves
1. ANARCHISM Slavery
have become modes of
- Greek, “anarkos”, having no government
production
- Anarchism is the name given to a principle or
theory of life and conduct under which society is Members of the
conceived without government (Kropotkin) Primitive community have common
Communalism ownership and rights over
Views on AUTHORITY the modes of productions
Theory of HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
 “Superstructure” determined by:
- Modes of production
 Consists of available resources
- Property relations
 Relations between social classes with
regard to the control/ownership of the
modes of production
3. SOCIALISM
Principles of democratic socialism:
a. Much property is held by the public through the
democratically elected government
b. A limit of the accumulation of private property
c. Governmental regulation of the economy
d. Extensive publicly financed welfare and social
security programs
Fundamental Assumptions and Arguments
 Public participation in political decision-making
should be extended to include economic
decision-making
 Only when the economic system is controlled by
the people will solutions to basic social
problems, like hunger and disease, be possible
 Liberty cannot be maintained with economic
security
 Fundamental rationale of the welfare system –
an individual who is maintained at the minimum
level of life can contribute positively to the
society
4. LIBERALISM
Principles of liberalism:
a. Having a tendency to favor change
b. Possessing faith in human reason
c. Being willing to use government to improve
human conditions
d. Favoring individual freedom
e. Being ambivalent regarding human nature, but
much more optimistic than conservatives
Fundamental Assumptions and Arguments
 People should keep trying to improve
society
 Trust in human reason to solve human
problems
 Change is inevitable in the patterns of
society
 Change can be directed and controlled for
human benefit
 Change should be within the current
framework of political, legal and economic
systems. Liberals are not radicals.
5. CONSERVATISM
- Edmund Burke, Father of Modern
Conservatism
- Institutions in society slowly evolve over time to
fit the needs and conditions, and therefore,
tampering with established traditions and
institutions is likely to bring grief rather than
improvement
Principles of conservatism:
a. Resistance to change
b. Reverence for tradition and distrust of human
reason
c. Rejection of the use of government to improve
human conditions
d. Preference for individual freedom but
willingness to limit freedom to maintain
traditional values
e. Belief in anti-egalitarianism (no equality)
Fundamental Assumptions and Arguments
- Something that has worked, even if not very
well, is better that something untried and
unknown
- The longer an institution has existed, the
more likely it is to be worth preserving
- Government does not necessarily improve
human conditions, people left alone can do
a better job
Two Views of Conservatism
A. Affirmative conservatism – in favor of the
existing social and political order/system
B. Critical conservatism – sees little or no
connection between the cherished political
principles and the existing political and social
institutions
Liberalism and Conservatism
Must be distinguished from two extreme attitudes:
A. Reactionary – one who wants to move
drastically in the direction of a past society
(usually idealized) believed to be better than the
present
B. Radical – one who wants dramatic change in the
direction of a vision of a better society that has
not yet existed
6. FASCISM
- Developed in the early 20th century in
France and Italy
- National Socialism (Nazism) was a variant of
fascism
Basic beliefs of fascism:
 Irrationalism – rejection of the application of
reason and science to social problems, and
use myths, emotions, and hate as tools of
manipulation
 Social Darwinism – viewing life as a struggle
for survival within each species, and that
there are superior and inferior races in the
human species
 Nationalism – individuals are first and
foremost members of the nation (race) to
which they must give all their loyalty,
dedication and love
 Glorification of the state (racial state) – the
state as the living organism of a nationality
which not only assures the preservation of
this nationality, but by the development of
 its spiritual and ideal abilities leads it to the
highest freedom
 Leadership principle – each subordinate
owes absolute obedience to his or her
immediate superior, with everyone
ultimately subordinate to the absolute
leader, the leader’s will is the collective will
“Fuhrer” –Nazi Germany
“Il Duce” – Fascist Italy
 Racism – racial domination and elimination
of inferior races
 Anti-communism – fascism was anti-
intellectual, anti-rational, and anti-modern
 Neo-Nazism/neo-fascism – current variant of
fascism in Europe and North America
PUBLIC OPINION
PUBLIC – is any group of designated individuals, which is
essentially a segment of society; may be identified by
geographic base, shared interest/s, or social sector
OPINION – is the end product of the interrelationships
between a person’s values, belief systems and attitudes;
becomes the verbalization of an attitude or groups of
attitudes
PUBLIC OPINION
- is the expression of all those members of a
group who are giving attention in any way to a
given issue (Albig)
- is the sum of all private opinions of which
government officials are aware and take into
account in making their decisions (Key)
- are essentially opinions which relate to
government, politics, and public policy
Properties/Dimensions of Public Opinion:
1. Direction or preference – indicates approval or
disapproval
2. Intensity – reflecting the strength with which it is
held
3. Stability – whether the direction and intensity of
an opinion will remain relatively constant over
time
4. Salience – degree to which an individual prefers
one opinion over another
Some Elements of the Opinion-Forming Process
 Public
 Issue
 Situation and Time
Public Opinion Patterns
 Consensus
 Conflict
Significance of Public Opinion
1. Cultivation of public opinion is a major
preoccupation of most political groups
2. Public opinion is a very strong political force
Public Opinion Study
1. Public opinion is usually studied through survey
research or polls
2. Some issues on opinion polls:
- Sampling method
- Accuracy of data
- Motives and influence of poll results
POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
 Basic process of receiving and
transmitting meaning through the use
of symbols
 “no communication, no society”
- Process of transmitting and receiving political
meanings
- By which political groups are formed, try to
influence public opinion and policy
Elements of Political Communication
o Communicators – any person or group that acts
to influence government policy or public opinion
is a political communicator
o Messages – contains symbols – words, pictures,
and so on to convey ideas
o Media – ways or means of transmitting
messages
o Receivers - A receiver is a person who becomes
aware of a communicator’s message, messages
are received either directly or indirectly, the
major factors that determine the impact of
messages are the knowledge, level of interest,
and the cognitive map of the receivers.
o Responses - intended to produce some kind of
favorable responses
Levels of Media
a. Face-to-face or interpersonal
b. Mass media
Aspects and Issues:
i. Ownership/Content (government or
private and commercial)
ii. Regulation (press freedom, the Net)
iii. Coverage (extensiveness, thoroughness,
bias, “responsible journalism”, and
“sensational journalism”)
iv. Access to media
v. Media professionals
vi. Political impact on public and
policymakers
Forms of Responses
a. Initiation – communication opens views on the
issue
b. Conversion – abandon previous views
c. Reinforcement – strengthen the views
d. Activation – not only believe the idea but
persuade to action
THE ELECTORAL PROCESS
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
- Composite of rules and regulations governing
the voting process by which representatives are
elected to the legislative body, and by which
presidents or chief executives achieve office in
presidential systems and the other way citizens
participate directly in policy-making.
 Philippines – Omnibus Election Code
ELECTIONS
Functions of elections:
1. A routine mechanism for recruiting and selecting
individuals for representative positions
2. Provide for orderly succession of government
administrations
3. The electoral process legitimates the
government
4. Serve as venue for and agents of political
socialization and political integration
5. Provide opportunities for political
communication
6. Encourage political groups to aggregate their
interests
Other Forms of Direct Democratic Electoral Processes
1. Referendum
- Also called as “plebiscite”, a process
where constitutions or amendments
may be ratified or approved
- Questions of public policy are voted
upon directly by citizens
2. Initiative
- A procedure that allows a group of
citizens to petition for a law to be
drafted and submitted to the electorate
for their decision
3. Recall
- A procedure enabling citizens to petition for
the removal of an elected representative or
official
VOTING BEHAVIOR
 Vote – basic unit of political power
- What makes voters vote as they do
Variables of Voting Behavior
Independent Variable Dependent Variable

“No free elections, no democracy.” Intervening Variable

- may affect or influence
Essential characteristics of free elections:
Dependent Variables – Two Dimensions
1. Regular elections
2. Meaningful choices 1. Preference – what makes people prefer one
3. Freedom to put forth candidates over the other
4. Freedom to know and discuss the issues 2. Voting or Nonvoting – what makes people
5. Universal adult suffrage decide to vote or not vote
6. Equal weight of votes Independent Variables
7. Free registration of choices
8. Accurate counting of choices and reporting of 1. Biological needs and nature of voters
results 2. Psychological make-up of voters
3. Membership in social groups
Universal Qualifications for Suffrage 4. Communications that voters receive
o Citizenship Intervening Variables
o Age
o Residence 1. Party Identification – sense of attachment to a
o Registration political party; inner psychological feeling
2. Issue Orientation – awareness, concern,
Electoral Systems perception, and opinion on a political issue
Principal Types of Direct Democratic Electoral Processes 3. Candidate Orientation – voters’ opinions of
1. Single-Member Districts System candidates’ personal qualities
- Single-member plurality or “first-past- Political Issue – is a disputed question about what
the-post” system government should or should not do
- Single-member absolute majority
system SOME THEORIES of Voting Behavior
2. Multi-Member Proportional Representation (PR)
1. “Supermarket” voting
System
Voters vote on the following bases:
- Party-list system
- Brand loyalty
- Single transferable vote (Ireland only)
- Impulse buying
3. “Hybrid” System
2. Social Group voting
- A combination of both types
Influenced by membership in a social group
- Socio-economic group
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Geographical grouping (rural or urban)
 3. Attitudinal voting INTEREST OR PRESSURE GROUPS
Influenced by the effect of the issues,
candidates, and political parties - Affect operations of the government
- Main activity is lobbying
ORGANIZING FOR POLITICS - May be single-issue or multiple-issue groups
Political Organizations – any organization that is not a Types of interest groups:
government agency whose main purpose is to affect the
1. Promotional Interest Groups – open
operation of the government
membership, concerned with promoting quality
- Political parties of life issues
- Interest/Pressure groups 2. Protective Interest Groups – closed
- Movements, coalition, terrorist groups membership, organized to protect social or
economic interests
POLITICAL PARTY 3. Atomic Interest Groups – no formal
- Any group that presents at elections, and is organizational structure, come together
capable of placing through elections, temporarily
candidates for public office Other Political Organizations
Functions of political parties: 1. Movements – collective behavior that is
1. Recruit candidates ideologically inspired, idealistic, and action-
2. Interest aggregation oriented
3. Election campaigning 2. Ad Hoc Coalitions – temporary organizations
4. Political socialization 3. Terrorist Political Groups
5. Policy-making 4. Civil Societies
6. Governing
Types of political parties:
1. According to Organization
a. Mass parties
b. Cadre parties
2. According to Ideological Orientation
a. “Catch-all” party
b. Ideological party
PARTY SYSTEM
- Refers to the political system that defined by
the number of political parties that operate in a
state

1. Competitive Party Systems

a. Dominant One-Party System
b. Two-Party System
c. Multi-Party System
 Multi-party dominant system
 Multi-party loose system
Party Fractionalization
- Degree to which votes and offices are evenly
divided among the parties in a state
a. High – more parties win seats
b. Low – less parties win seats
Coalition Government
- Managed by an alliance of two or more
separate parties, each of which has members in
executive posts

2. Non-Competitive Party Systems

a. Mono-party system
b. Hegemonic