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DHARMASHASTRA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY, JABALPUR

(Session 2020-2021)

Topic

A Critical study of Changing Agents of Political

Socialization in India

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Dr. Jalaj Goantiya Sanskrati Jain

[Assistant Professor Section B

Of Political Science] BALLB/116/20

Semester -II
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The completion of this project required counselling and assistance from many people and I’m
really thankful towards them for their counselling in my project.

I would like to express my deep gratitude towards my teacher asst. professor Dr. Jalaj
Goantiya, who took acute interest in my project and guided me all along. I’m feeling
extremely privileged to have him as my instructor in the project. I owe my deep gratitude to
the vice-chancellor Prof. Balraj Chauhan for his valuable support throughout the project.
This project helped me in gathering a lot of knowledge and becoming more aware of things
related to my topic.

I would like to extend my gratefulness to my parents and friends for their valuable support
and advice.

I am making this project not only to get marks but also to enhance my knowledge. At the end
I would like thank everyone who helped me and invested their valuable time for this project.

Sanskrati Jain
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ABSTRACT
This project is all about agents of political socialization and changes in them. The agents of
political socialization have evolved very much from which are mentioned traditionally in
books. This change occurred with time and the tools gradually changed as per the demand of
contemporary times. So, to provide basic understanding to the readers the author has firstly
introduced what political socialization is and briefly introduced what are basic or traditional
agents of political socialization. Then the author has categorically discussed what are
traditional agents of political socialisation and also discussed the problems related to them
which also led to the change in them. Then the author has discussed one of the major modern
political agents of socialisation that is social media. The author has discussed the impact,
need, pros and cons of social media as political socializer. Then to understand the realistic
political impact of social media the author has taken an example of Disha Ravi case (Toolkit
Case). The author briefly and chronologically mentioned the facts of the case and then
critically analysed the impact of social media’s role in this case in particular. And at the end
the author has concluded her arguments and also suggested her personal views on the issue.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgement................................................................................................2

Abstract.................................................................................................................3

Introduction...........................................................................................................5

Research Problem.................................................................................................6

Research Objectives..............................................................................................6

Research Questions...............................................................................................6

Research Methodology.........................................................................................6

Literature Review.................................................................................................6

Scope Of The Project............................................................................................7

Data Collection.....................................................................................................7

Traditional Agents of Political Socialization........................................................7

Family...............................................................................................................7

School...............................................................................................................7

Peer Groups......................................................................................................8

Media................................................................................................................8

Modern Agent of Political Socialisation...............................................................8

Social Media Platforms....................................................................................8

Recent Trends Related to Political Socialization..................................................9

Conclusion & Suggestions..................................................................................11

Bibliography.......................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Political socialization is the "process by which individuals learn and
often internalize a political lens framing their perceptions of how power is arranged and how
the world around them is (and should be) organized; those perceptions, in turn, shape and
define individuals' definitions of who they are and how they should behave in the political
and economic institutions in which they live."1

So, simply putting it the word ‘political socialization’ refers to a different type of political
learning through which people develop the attitudes, values, beliefs, opinions, and behaviours

that are conducive for making of good citizenry in the nation. Political socialization is a
lifelong process by which people form their ideas about politics and acquire political values.
The family, educational system, peer groups, and the mass media all play a role. While
family and school are important early in life, what our peers think and what we read in the
newspaper and see on television have more influence on our political attitudes as adults.
Political socialization also includes the way in which people acquire values and opinions that
shape their political stance and ideology: it is a "study of the developmental processes by
which people of all ages and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes, and
behaviours."2

who (subjects) → learns what (political values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours) → from whom
(agents) → under what circumstances → with what effects?

So, the groups that teaches and exposes us to political ideas and values and helps in
inculcating the political thoughts in the very mind of us are known as “Agents of political
socialization”. They highly influence the political and social thoughts of a person and helps
his/er in shaping his/er character. Some of those have greater overall effect than do others.
Some are more influential at different periods in people’s lives. The structures, dynamics,
messages, and prevalence of the various sources of political orientations change over time.
Further, the politically relevant experiences of individuals within their families, schools,
churches, voluntary associations as well as their patterns of media use vary by gender, race,
ethnicity, and social class. The chapter systematically examines research detailing this
complexity.

1
Glasberg, Davita Silfen; Shannon, Deric (2011). Political sociology: Oppression, resistance, and the state.
Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press. p. 56.
2
Powell, L.; Cowart, J. (2013). Political Campaign Communication: Inside and Out. Boston MA: Allyn &
Bacon.
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As, we have already understood what is political socialization and what does agent of
political socialization means? So further, in this study we are going to see how the orientation
and inclination of an individual or a person towards various political agents has changed with
time. And how those modern agents are different from traditional agents, how those agents
became less influential with time and what led to rise of modern agent of socialization. And
also, some recent examples of the political socialization in India.

"Any education given by a group tends to socialize its members, but the quality and the value
of the socialization depends upon the habits and aims of the group. Hence, once more, the
need of a measure for the worth of any given mode of social life." - John Dewey

RESEARCH PROBLEM
The agents of political socialisation are changing with this fast-growing world. The
traditional agents at times prove to be redundant and fail to be as effective as modern agents.
So, recognising the importance of modern agents of political socialisation has become
indispensable.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
 To evaluate some recent trends in light of modern political socialization agents.
 To know the reasons behind change in agent of political socialization.
 To get acquainted with the dynamic nature of agents of political socialization.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 What leads to the changes in the agents of political socialisation?
 What are some recent trends or major changes where role of political socialisation is
clearly visible?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Doctrinal research also known as, theory-testing or knowledge building research has been
done to shape the project. The research was done mainly by e-resources. A lot of research has
already been conducted on the same topic. There is no field work required here. For my
research work the data has been collected from various databases, and newspaper articles
from The Hindu, The Indian Express was taken. With the help of internet various books’
summary and their excerpts were read. Various materials that are available on e-sources have
been critically analysed and the similar ideas have been put forward in the project. The
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primary as well as secondary documentary sources are utilized to make the study up-to-date,
orderly and scientific. Various reports, books, articles, journals, judicial decision, website,
international, constitutional norms and national measures will be taken as important research
tools. Besides these methods, some other methods will also be applied according to the need
of the study.

LITERATURE REVIEW
This study cannot be made possible without going through literature available on the topic
under study. Before starting up the work on the problem the present study aims to review the
existing literature on the subject. The review of the existing literature would provide clarity
of concept, Introductory understanding of different aspects, and would help in identifying
problem zones and formulating research methodology.

A research paper was reviewed for the purpose of getting a deeper insight of the topic. The
paper titled “Political Socialization and the Making of Citizens” by Anja Neundorf & Kaat
Smets. This paper led to my basic understanding what political socialization is and its agents.
Political socialization describes the process by which citizens crystalize political identities,
values and behaviour that remain relatively persistent throughout later life. This chapter
provides a comprehensive discussion of the scholarly debate on political socialization, posing
a number of questions that arise in the study of political socialization and the making of
citizens. First, what is it about early life experiences that makes them matter for political
attitudes, political engagement, and political behaviour? Second, what age is crucial in the
development of citizens’ political outlook? Third, who and what influences political
orientations and behaviour in early life, and how are cohorts coloured by the nature of time
when they come of age? Fourth, how do political preferences and behaviour develop after the
impressionable years? The chapter further provides an outlook of the challenges and
opportunities for the field of political socialization.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

The scope of the project has been restricted to some particular agents of political socialization
as it is not possible to discuss all of them here only. And only the dynamic nature of political
socializer has been discussed here and no other agent is being elaborated upon here.
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DATA COLLECTION
The data is mainly collected through e-sources and various books and research papers
available on the same topic. In order to make the study more informative and reliable. The
author has tried her best to collect the data from its source only and use the most authentic
and reliable data as far as possible.

TRADITIONAL AGENTS OF POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION

Family- The first and foremost agent that influences the political ideology of an individual is

his/her family. Our first political ideas are shaped within the family. Parents seldom "talk
politics" with their young children directly, but casual remarks made around the dinner table
or while helping with homework can have an impact. The family as an agent of political
socialization is most successful in passing on basic political identities, especially an
affiliation with the parties and ideologies. A tiered power structure exists within many
families that emphasises parental authority and obedience to the rules that parents establish.
The strong emotional relationships that exist between family members may force children to
adopt behaviours and attitudes that will please their parents or, conversely, to rebel against
them. Overall, family provides the basis for building the political thought of an individual. 3

“Foremost among agencies of Socialization into Politics is the Family.” - Herbert Hyman

School- Children are introduced to elections and voting when they choose class monitors and
leaders of student’s council, and the more worldly elections in high school and college teach
the fundamentals of campaigning. Political facts are learned through courses in history and
government, and schools, at their best, encourage students to critically examine government
institutions. Schools themselves are involved in politics; issues such as curriculum reform,
funding, and government support for private schools often lead to a debate that involves
students, teachers, parents, and the larger community. So, they also work as effective tools of
political socialization.4

Peer Groups- There is a quote in English that “If you hang around five intelligent people you
will be the sixth one, if you hang around five foolish people you will be the sixth one”. So,
the crux of the quote is that you will get the qualities of your peers. There are some or other
people you hang around so those people spread their ideology and are a very source of
political socialisation. Unlike the family and school, which are structured hierarchically with
3
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139176026.004
4
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/american-government/public-opinion/political-socialization
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adults exercising authority, the peer group provides a forum for youth to interact with people
who are at similar levels of maturity. For example, professionals such as teachers or bankers
often have similar political opinions, particularly on matters related to their careers. The
pressure to conform to group norms can have a powerful impact on group members’ mind.5

Media- Most of the political information an individual gets, is from media. Newspapers,
magazines, radio, television creates political awareness and provides people with
information. Millions of persons are reached daily through these agencies, and are
profoundly influenced by the material and interpretations presented in impressive form,
incessantly, and in moments when they are open to suggestion. The capacity of mass media
to socialize people to politics has grown massively as the number of media outlets has
increased and as new technologies allow for more interactive media experiences. Most
people’s political experiences occur vicariously through the media because they do not have
personal access to government or politicians. So, media plays a vital role in socializing
people politically.

Political socialization is a very dynamic concept and its agents always changing. These
traditional agents are losing their relevance with the upsurge of internet and faster means of
communication, the need for information promptly is indispensable and these tools weren’t
effective so the faster tools of socialization are used now for politically engaging people.
Political socialisation is a very always changing and moving concept in itself.

MODERN AGENT OF POLITICAL SOCIALISATION

Social Media Platforms- These days social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, WhatsApp etc. play a very vital and significant role in forming political views of
people or masses in general. It is nothing but a much sophisticated and evolved form of
traditional agent of socialization know as media. Nevertheless, social media do enjoy various
means of indirect influence over political decisions. They shape how Indian view candidates
early in an election process and frame the terms of political debate. They focus the attention
of regular Indian on particular social problems, influencing which issues politicians consider
worthy of attention. For these reasons and others, the social media platforms are critical
players in the Indian political system.6

5
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/political-socialization-essay-on-political-socialization/31348
6
https://open.lib.umn.edu/
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Most of the information we get these days is from social media. The political parties also got
to know about the impact of social media in forming political opinions, so they started
making their social media policies and regulating the statements of their leaders on the social
media platforms. The political parties try to downplay the achievement and exaggerate the
failures of each other. Both sides claim to have large number of followers. Earlier any news
used to proliferate slowly, but now-a-days it spreads like fire spreads in a forest. And this is
because of social media platforms only. The reason for this much influential role of social
media attributed to its users that are millennials, who are the current voters or who are going
to be voters soon.7

The social media controls the political opinions and trends in India from very ground level
and affects the personal interest of each and every person. Personal interest has a
straightforward effect on public opinion. Individuals respond to a problem based on how the
outcome will affect them. This is rather obvious on pocketbook issues: disinvestment in
public companies, Rape cases, farmer’s protest etc. The news of a criminal law amendment
committee formation used to irrelevant before the advent of social media but after the
Nirbhaya case in Delhi in 2012, every Indian has an opinion on the laws relating to rape and
how effectively the federal government is dealing with the threats to our own mother and
sister.8

The advent of social media has enabled an unprecedented empowerment and engagement of
the ‘aam aadmi’ for expressing political opinions. A positive development of social media
emergence has been that the youth is talking about the political issues. Earlier the political
discussions were restricted only to those who read newspapers, watched news channels or
participated in discussions in nukkad of a village or clubs. But now, social networking has
made the youth of India to sit up and discuss political issues. They spend time to analyse and
discuss politics. They now have views on the happenings of political events and they also
influence the administrative decision making. But getting the youngsters together to vote in
elections and using social media as a platform to help political parties is still a pipeline
dream. Social media revolution in the Indian political space is real, tangible and accelerating.
Though it may not bring in huge changes immediately, but still, it will play an important role

7
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/american-government/public-opinion/how-public-opinion-is-formed
8
https://www.gjimt.ac.in/wpcontent/uploads/2017/10/3_SurjitKaur_ManpreetKaur_Impact_of_social_Media_
on_Politics.pdf
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in creating political awareness, which in itself is a huge step forward for a developing country
like India.9

RECENT TRENDS RELATED TO POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION

Recently, when the nation was watching the videos and photos of farmer protest against the
newly enacted farm laws in the country and we also saw international celebrities supporting
it. Then came the news of a Bengaluru-based climate activist Disha Ravi, 21, is in custody of
the Delhi Police for editing and sharing a toolkit with globally known teen anti-climate
change campaigner Greta Thunberg. Some others including activists Nikita Jacob and
Shantanu have also been booked for coordinating with pro-Khalistan outfit Poetic Justice
Foundation (PFJ) in connection with protest by farmers’ unions over the new farm laws.

A toolkit has become a handy tool in sustaining a movement or campaign in times of social
media influences. It is a document created as an explainer on an issue as a guide to everybody
who is associated with the campaign or can be roped in to give a fillip to the campaign. It also
provides a roadmap of how to take forward the campaign or agitation explaining what needs
to be done, when and how.10 In the present case, the toolkit became an accidental disclosure
when Greta Thunberg on February 5 shared a Google document, a “toolkit, inadvertently. She
deleted the tweet later, but it became a headline.

Once the toolkit became public knowledge, the Delhi police asked Google and relevant social
media companies to provide information about the toolkit. Information related to the email
IDs, URLs and social media accounts related to the toolkit was procured. The investigation,
the Delhi police said, found that some pro-Khalistan elements were involved in creating
disaffection against the country for waging a "social, cultural and economic war against the
Government of India". Disha Ravi’s role figured in the probe, the Delhi police said, as an
“Editor of the Toolkit Google Doc”. She is now accused of being a “key conspirator” for
preparing and sharing the document. Disha Ravi, according to the Delhi police, shared the
toolkit with Greta Thunberg.

We saw a different kind of outrage on social media this time the youth climate activists and
other supporters of farmer protest came up with an argument that all the charges put upon
Disha are baseless and Government is only taking retributive action against her as she
actively participated in the farmers protest against the newly enacted laws. Environmental

9
https://legaldesire.com/role-of-social-media-in-indian-politics/
10
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/disha-ravi-case
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Collectives condemned Ravi’s arrest based on “false” and “clearly fabricated” charges. In a
press release, the collective said that it was “actively supporting” the farmers’ protest as
agriculture and environment are “deeply interlinked issues”. It said that “toolkits” are used by
them as their members are “scattered far and wide and often work independently”.11

While the supporters of her arrest claimed that the toolkit was circulated over the Net to
tarnish India’s image and that its production is a part involved a Zoom meeting attended by
around 70 people that was organised by the allegedly pro-Khalistan Poetic Justice Foundation
(PJF). They argued that toolkit was some conspiracy gizmos used to bring foreign forces to
destabilise India’s internal peace and outrage farmers to protest against the duly enacted laws
and in toto the central govt. Some people also saw it as a danger upon the sovereignty of
India.

The media houses became biased and every person on social media had an opinion on this
case. If social media had not played the role in this case the arrest would have never
happened neither the people have been protesting against the arrest nor the people have been
supporting it. The social media was seed of cause, reaction and medium of dissemination of
information related to the case. The social media fuelled the fire of farmers protest and the
news of arrest of Disha Ravi spread like a fire in the forest via social media only.

Activism lately is armed with social media, which has emerged as a dominant medium for
speech and expression, freedom of which are guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. It is very
constitutional right of every citizen of India to freely express his ideology and thought but the
restriction upon them should also be kept in eye and shall act accordingly. And every other
support or protest of any international celebrity is not always a conspiracy and a danger upon
our nation’s sovereignty. The idea of passing the judgement of acquittal or conviction of any
arrest person is not right the judiciary is there to do that. So instead of making it an issue or
propaganda the social media platforms should be used to have some fruitful debates on the
same thing, which can help us in understanding the issues related to any arrest. Social media
is a very strong and stout medium for disseminating the ideas and political thoughts so should
be used wisely and should not only be used for spreading the propaganda only. The author
here is not taking any side but advising the people & political leaders to use it for the benefit
of everyone. Had the social media been used wisely, situations would have been better in this
case or any other controversial case for that reason.

11
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/part-of-rss-bjp-toolkit-outrage-on-social-media-after-21-yr-old-
climate-activist-held-in-thunberg-case
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CONCLUSION & SUGGESTIONS

It is a universal fact that change is the only constant thing in this world. So, the agents of
political socialization changed drastically with time. This change is positive as well as
negative. The modern agents of political socialization are much faster as compared to the
older agents, the message or idea so conveyed to the masses reaches them very fast and they
can revert to it fast as well. These sources affect the development of political values and
attitudes differently, but they all contribute to the individual’s understanding of and
orientations toward politics.

Another major factor in political socialization is social status/standing; this has a major
influence on the way in which a person would choose to deal with social issues, and the way
in which they would try to influence policy. Demographics also play an important part in the
way people respond to politics as their different situations are affects differently by their
political system. A person’s race, gender, age, economic standing, country and education
would have a significant effect on what they view as important to them and what they would
like to be done for them through their political system.12

So, the author thinks that Political Socialization forms political culture and political culture
influences political socialization. Political socialization is part of the continuous process of
social order which is responsible for teaching certain political behaviours to the new
members of a society in order to make them think in keeping with the changing political
system they are living in. It appears that every society may succeed in maintaining its
political culture through the process of political socialization; because by accessing cultural
transfer channels of the society, the means to improving those set of values that contribute to
the political stability and solidity of a society may be obtained.

Through political socialization, an individual will take on a particular political personality

which leads the individual to accepting a certain role in the framework of the political system.
Accordingly, people knowingly adopt a certain status and position in the political structure of
the society; a process which is completed by the family, school, mass media, government,
political societies, parties, state organizations, local agencies, occupations, etc. political
socialization is the process of maintaining or changing political cultures. Through political
socialization people enter political culture and their orientations toward political objectives
are formed. So, these modern tools of political socialization should be used prudently.
12
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/relationship-between-political-socialization-and-political-culture-
sociology-essay.php
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Newspaper:

 The Hindu
 Indian Express
 The Wire
 The Print
 Hindustan Times
 Times of India

Websites visited:

 cliffsnotes.com
 en.wikipedia.org
 open.lib.umn.edu
 link.springer.com
 bonobology.com
 tripakshalitigation.com

Research Article:

 Henk Dekke’s “Political Socialization Theory and Research” (1991)

 Powell, L.; Cowart, J’s “Political Campaign Communication: Inside and Out” (2013)