KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

POL 152: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF

POLITICAL STUDIES

FACILITATORS : DR. DOMINIC DEGRAFT ARTHUR

DR. ALICE GYASI-MENSAH
 Political Socialization
Political socialisation is a complex process through which one becomes
aware of politics and learns about political factors so as to form political
values.
It can al.so be defined as the way by which the individual acquires
attitudes, beliefs, and values relating to the political system of which he
is a member, and to his own role as a citizen within that political system.
 Agents of Political Socialisation
 Agents of political socialization refers to the actors or persons within
the agencies that play the role on the transmission process.
Parents
Siblings
Teachers
Opinion leaders
Leaders of youth organisations
Pastors
Imams

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 Agencies of Political Socialisation
The specialisation process is carried out by some institutions and
organisations called the agencies of socialisation. They comprise of the
following;
The family
The school
The community
Religious organisation
 Civil society Organisation
Cont’d
Peer Group
 Youth Movements
Mass Media
Political Parties
The Government

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 Significance of Political Socialisation
Political socialisation helps the individual in the development of
awareness of the political world and judgement of political events.
It helps the individual to acquire information about the citizenship
role.
Political socialisation operates in a quite and smooth manner, without
people being aware of it.
Political socialisation seeks to inculcate values, norms and
orientations in the minds of the individuals so that they develop trust in
their political system.

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 Political Culture
Political culture refers to the attitude of the people towards political
issues and objects.
The concept of political culture originated from Gabriel Almond in
1956.
It subsequently employed in a book he jointly authored with Sidney
Verba titled ‘The Civic Culture’.
In general, the concept is defined as a set of attitudes and practices
held by a people that shapes their political behaviour. It includes moral
judgements, political myths, beliefs and ideas about political issues of
the state.
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 Characteristics of Political Culture
Political culture creates norms that is believe about how people should
behave and those norms influence social behaviour.
Political culture encompasses values and attitudes which shape the
political system.
Political culture like the general culture is learnt . The learning
process runs continuously from infancy through adolescence into
adulthood.
Political culture is shared, though uniformly by members of the
political community.
Political culture produces cultural objects and artefacts.
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 Types of Political Culture

Participant Political Culture

Subject Political Culture

 Parochial Political Culture

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 Significance of Political Culture
The political culture approach has become an important tool for the
understanding of political system.

Political culture has made significant contribution to the development

of modern political theory.

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THANK YOU