Idea Transcript
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, No.:1, 2015 ISSN 2395-4335, © IJIRSSC www. ijirssc.in ________________________________-________________
Healthy Process of Political Socialization: an Urgent Need in the Contemporary Society of Assam
Gitika Sharma Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science. Narangi Anchalik Mahavidyalaya Guwahati,Assam,India ABSTRACT : Political socialization is a process through which political culture of a society is transmitted from generation to generation. A healthy process of political socialization is very important for maintaining stability in the political system of a society. Without it, a strong public opinion cannot be formed and therefore in such a situation no positive change can be brought in the society. In the contemporary society of Assam new generation people are seems to be lacking proper political culture. Rather they are guided by some negative elements that divert them from their actual goal and create unrest situation in the society. Therefore in this paper an attempt has been made to analyze the reasons for why a healthy political socialization process is needed in Assam at present. Keywords - Political socialization, political culture, public opinion and political stability. __________________________________________________________________________________
I.Introduction: Political culture of a particular society to a great extent determines the level of development of that society. Because more the people politically concerned more they can bring changes in the society. A healthy political socialization process can bring positive changes more easily[1]. In the contemporary Assamese society political socialization process is influenced by so many unhealthy elements that the new generation peoples of Assam are seems to be moving far away from the root of their prime objective. Originally Assam was composed of the whole of the north east. The people of Assam exhibited a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society. But as time passed, the concept of big Assam was disappeared and it was replaced by the entire north eastern states. From the early period of time till today lots of changes have taken place in the political history of Assam. In this long process of political development whatever changes took place, they formed and shaped the political culture of Assam[3]. As a part of India, Assam also shares the same political ideals, values, norms etc. like secularism, democracy, equality etc. But the political values, beliefs of Assam’s own, need to be transmitted from one generation to the next generation through the process of political socialization. Otherwise new generation people would not be able to form public opinion in right way to save the society. Such a situation reflects in current political life in Assam. For example instability in socio political atmosphere, corrupt practices, ethnic violence, degradation of moral values in the character of political parties, ideal less agitation, citizens’ inactive role in decision making process, politicization of social issues, influence of insurgency in politics etc. Political problems of present Assam are the results of unhealthy www. ijirssc.in
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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, No.:1, 2015 ISSN 2395-4335, © IJIRSSC www. ijirssc.in ________________________________-________________
process of political socialization. Therefore in this study an attempt has been made to analyze the reasons for why in present society of Assam there is an urgent need of healthy process of political socialization.
II. Objectives of the Study: The main objectives of this paper are: 1. To examine the importance of political socialization in brining positive change in the society. 2. To investigate the need of political socialization in Assam. 3. To analyze the level of political socialization in Assam.
III. Methodology : The study based on secondary data has been taken from books and web sources. Analytical method is basically followed in preparing the paper.
IV. Result and Discussion : A) Meaning of Political Culture and Political Socialization According to Lucian Pye, “political culture is the set of attitude, beliefs and sentiments that give order and meaning to a political process.” In a political system different people may believe in different ideologies, may follow different values, norms, different viewpoints, and different beliefs and may behave and react differently in different situation. All these together constitute political culture. And political socialization is the process through which political cultures are maintained and changed. In other words political socialization refers to the way in which a society transmits political orientations-knowledge, attitude or norms and values from generation to generation B) Importance of Political Socialization in Present Society. In present day study of political science political socialization is an important instrument. Because on the basis of this concept the political analysts try to find out the answers to the question like what is the nature of a particular political system, how does the system is related with the public, how does the public earn the values of their political culture, how do the general peoples after politically socialized participate in the political system etc. The real significance of political socialization lies in its creation of knowledgeable citizens. Moreover it also plays the role for cultural transmission. To create support base for a political system, only political socialization is responsible. The most significant role played by political socialization is to legitimatize a particular political authority so that it can maintain its existence. Here arises an important thing that is; simply political socialization would not able to prepare an alert and efficient group of citizens. The process of political socialization must be healthy one. In other words political norms, value, beliefs, attitude, behaviour etc. that are www. ijirssc.in
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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, No.:1, 2015 ISSN 2395-4335, © IJIRSSC www. ijirssc.in ________________________________-________________
transmitted to next generation must have originality and must be the root elements of the political society which they represent. Political socialization is thus important to both the social system and citizen. It preserves political culture and provides stability and continuity to the political life. Therefore the young Chinese are taught the maxims and mantras of Mao Tse Tung and of communism. The young Americans learn about free enterprise and democracy and treat them as part of their concept of freedom. Respect for Rule of law , conventions and crown are important political culture of the British people while the Indians follow secularism, socialism and democracy as the main elements of Indian political philosophy along with Gandhian philosophy of Ahimsa. These are few examples how the young in different political systems imbibe their political orientations and attitude. C) Political set up of Contemporary Society of Assam : Groups and of those who are the son of the soils, absence of good governance concept in the actual administration, inactive voting behaviour of the citizen, corruption, violence and so on. Ethnic violence occurs in our society mostly because people do not know about the originality of their own and the concept of multiculturalism is not known to common people. As for example, about the early settlers of the Barak Valley and of the Brahmaputra Valley, little known by the common people. Taking advantage of it, politicians use them to fulfill their own interest. According to Sir E.A.Gait, Bodos are perhaps the first inhabitants of the Brahmaputra Valley. Unfortunately they are now struggling for maintaining their existence. New generation people as a whole can get such information only through the socialization process. Similarly immigration is a big problem of Assam. But majority of common people do not know, when and why and for whom immigration was started in Assam. No doubt modern technology immediately can give us required information. But only a healthy socialization process can provide us actual knowledge of the subject which in turn can help us in forming proper public opinion. Then again caste politics is not new in our society. But we do not know how a particular caste gets upwards mobility through the process of sanskritization[6]. According to M.N.Srinivas,it implies that process by which a low Hindu caste, or tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual, ideology and way of life in the direction of ahighcaste[6]. What changes takes place in the social structure of our society can be well known only through socialization process. Without knowing the past political history of a society it is not possible to investigate into the present political problems. For example, Most of us do not have an idea how the king of ancient Kamrup, Bhaskar Barma (594-650BC) extended his empire by applying his political intelligence[2]. Then again, the study of the politics of Ahom Dynasty can help us to understand how the clashes and hatred within own people can be the cause of fall of a nation. Politics of agitation is not new to Assam. Young people of 80s learnt it very well during the movement against Bangladeshi foreigners. Still this remains as a popular political culture in our society. However such culture is not appreciated if it brings havoc in the society and cannot bring positive change in the society. Another negative political culture of Assamese people, that is reluctant nature in availing voting rights, has been continuing from a very long period. It shows unhealthy process of socialization. Everybody www. ijirssc.in
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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, No.:1, 2015 ISSN 2395-4335, © IJIRSSC www. ijirssc.in ________________________________-________________
welcomed when 50% seats were reserved for women in the panchayat election of our state[3]. But when the majority of women candidates proved that they are guided by their husbands and are lacking minimum general knowledge, reveals the fact that political socialization process is not working with so called women empowerment programs of our society. Nowadays all are talking about good governance; but to establish it, accountability in the part of the public servants and vigilance in the nature of general public is must. Political socialization through various agents like educational institution, media, press etc. may create vigilant citizen. Despite living in the largest democracy of the world, people in our country cannot enjoy real freedom of life. This is the biggest question of present Indian politics. Actually in modern representative democracy, power remains in the hands of the few[5]. And that group of few, being the owner of all power does not care for the freedom of many. Famous economist Hayek therefore proposes for reform of representative democracy. In the context of Assam, this defect of representative democracy is very prominent. But active mass protest against it is absent due to ignorance of the people about the fact. They do not know that emotionally guided unsystematic agitation cannot bring positive change in the society. Here lies the importance of healthy process of political socialization. In fact, through a healthy process of political socialization only people can be trained to take the leadership of the mission for a progressive society[7].
V.Findings : On the basis of the foregoing study of the need of healthy political socialization in contemporary society of Assam, following findings are given. 1. Healthy political socialization is needed for positive development and stability in the political system. 2. Political culture of a society transmitted from one generation to the next generation. 3. Through political socialization processing political system stability is maintained and ground is created for new change. 4. In Assam the process of political socialization is characterized by unhealthy elements. 5. Through various agents of political socialization, like family, educational institutions, media, social organizations etc. individuals may be trained for performing their role as responsible citizens in decision making process.
VI. Conclusion : After discussing the importance of political socialization and analyzing the various aspect of contemporary political system of Assam, it may be concluded that without active involvement of the general public in its political life, problems that have adverse effect in the society cannot be solved. And therefore political socialization can act as a bridge in communicating the demand and aims and aspirations of the people to the authority, holding political power. As the culture of a civilization is the identification of it, so the political culture of a nation identifies its political character. And without a healthy process of political www. ijirssc.in
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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, No.:1, 2015 ISSN 2395-4335, © IJIRSSC www. ijirssc.in ________________________________-________________
socialization, no nation can maintain its political character that can bring prosperity for the society.
References : [1] Baishya,P.(2014): SangsadiyaRajnitirItihash, Rekha Prakashan. [2 ]Bora, H.(2009): Political Sociology, Kalyanee Publishers. [3] Jangam R.T. (1993):Text Book of Political Sociology”; Oxford& IBH Publicing . [4] Srinivas.M.N.(1998): “Social Change in Modern India”; Orient Longman Limited. [5] En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiculturalism. [6] En.wikipedia.org/wiki/sanskritization. [7 ]En.wikipedia.org/wiki/People-of-Assam.
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