CHAPTER 4; INFLUENCES ON

BELEFS AND ACTONS

James N. Danziger, (2009) Understanding
the Political World, New York: Pearson

Outline
Explaining Individual Political Behaviour
The Environment
Agents of Political Socialization
Personal Characteristics
Political Personality
Concluding Observations

Explaining Individual Political Behaviour

Why do individuals hold particular political beliefs and engage

in certain political actions?

Four Broad Types of Explanatory Factors in Explaining Individual
Political Behaviour:
(1)The environment
(2)Agents of political socialization
(3)Personal characteristics
(4)Personality and human nature
Chapter 4 considers these four type of influences on the political
beliefs and actions of individuals, from the apathetics to the
activists.

The Environment
Is it actually rational to

vote?
To what extent the

persons environmentthe broad context in

which an individual
lives- can powerfully
influence her political
behaviour?

Defining the environment:

Literally everything outside
the individual.

The Environment
The environment includes;
political elements(e.g., governmental procedures, public
policies, specific political events and actors),
elements of the social and cultural systems(e.g.,
religious foundations, attitudes toward such
characteristics as ethnicity, gender and class),
elements of the economic order(e.g., level of economic
prosperity and development),
and the physical features of the environment(e.g.,
topography, natural resources).

The Environment
For any particular political belief or action, there are

possible effects from an environmental stimulus.

An element of the environment might activate, repress,

transform, or amplify a persons political behaviour.

Most elements of the environment are likely to have little

or no effect at any given moment, so the task of the

political analyst is to identify those few environmental
elements that do have especially significant effects on
political belief or action and to explain how these effects
occur.

The Environment
Different ways in which the environment might affect

behavior:
(I)Political Environment
(II)Social Environment
(III)Cultural Environment
(VI)Economic Environment
(V)Physical Environment

Political Environment
Examples regarding the political environment:
1. Effects on information about politics
In Myanmar(Burma), the government limits the available
information about politics, so citizens have only minimal
knowledge of the current politics.
In the US, the politically interested citizen has access each
day to information about worldwide political events.

Political Environment
2. Effects on individuals political party involvement
From the late 1940s to the late 1980s, Romania had only one
legal political party, the Communist Party. Party membership,
open to only about 10 percent of the population, was essential
for any citizen who wanted to hold political office or gain major
advantages in the society, such as quality housing.
Currently,

Romania has multiparty democracy. Party

membership and opportunities to run for public office are now
open to all citizens. However, party membership no longer
affords the advantages that existed during the communist
period, and thus the proportion of Romanian adults who are
active party members of all political parties is lower now.

Social Environment
If the dominant religion in the cultural environment
has traditionally relegated women to a secondary
role, as in Saudi Arabias adherence to the sharia
laws of Islam, it is likely that few women will be
involved in politics.

Cultural, Economic and Physical Environment

If the poverty is widespread in an economic system, will

this influence the probability of political rebellion?

On the one hand, such poverty might produce a frustrated
population who will be responsive to a revolutionary
movement promising future prosperity, and it might inspire
a particular person to become very active in such a
movement. On the other hand, the people might be too
concerned about basic survival to have the time or energy
to engage in political action.

Agents of Political Socialization

Even individuals who live in the same

environment can hold very different political

beliefs.
Political socialization research attempts to

explain the sources of individuals political

beliefs.

Agents of Political Socialization

Political socialization can be defined as the

processes through which individuals

acquire their orientations toward the
political world.
Plato( c. 428-347 B.C.E) observed that
societys most important function is civic
training, instructing citizens regarding the
nature of their social and political world and
their proper roles in that world.

Agents of Political Socialization

The appropriate content and style of such political

socialization are subject to debate, since one persons

vision of proper civic training might be viewed by another
person as indoctrination and brainwashing.
Among the political scientists, the emphasis in political

socialization research has been on analysing the agents

of political socialization- the major sources of political
training and indoctrination.

Agents of Political Socialization

Some of the most important agents of political

socialization:
The Family
Schools
Peer Groups
The Media and Culture
Events

Agents of Political Socialization

-The Family The family is the first, and often the most powerful and
lasting, agent of political socialization.
The political orientations of most individuals are deeply

influenced by the behaviours and beliefs they experience in

the family environment because they have absorbed
perceptions about the political world from conversations
overheard within the family.
For example, most seven-year-old children in the US already

identify with one political party( Jennings, Markus, and Niemi

1991).

Agents of Political Socialization

-The Family The pattern of interactions between parents and children can
have political implications where the child might assume that
this is the appropriate pattern of authority relationships in the
society.
For example, if the family is hierarchical, with the mother or

father ruling with an iron hand, preventing discussions, and

using strong sanctions for disobedience, the child might
assume that this is the appropriate pattern of authority
relationships in the society.

Agents of Political Socialization

-Schools From the perspective of political authorities, schools can be the
states most valuable agent for political socialization because they
offer the opportunity for sustained and highly controlled contact with
youth at the age when many political beliefs can still be molded.
Teacher is the authority figure, who rewards thinking and behaviour

that conform to what is deemed desirable by the society and who

sanctions or withholds rewards from those who fail to conform.
In every school system, there are rituals that support the political

system( e.g., songs, chants, or activities that express allegiance to

political leaders or symbols).

Agents of Political Socialization

-Schools The school curriculum is also very important in shaping
students understanding of the political world.
Educational authorities can control what subjects are taught,

what textbooks contain, what content is tested, and even

what teachers say and do.
For example, during the French Fourth Republic( 1946-1958),

it was said that the minister of education in Paris could look

at her watch and specify exactly what chapter in what
textbook the children of a certain age were studying at that
moment all over France.

Agents of Political Socialization

-Peer Groups Peer group is a general term that includes friends,
neighbours, and colleagues from the workplace or clubs
and organizations.
According

to life cycle interpretation

socialization, learning never stops entirely.

of

political

As the importance of parents diminishes and after formal

schooling ends, peers groups become an increasingly

significant influence on many peoples political
socialization.

Agents of Political Socialization

-Peer Groups In general, a person is more likely to be accepted by her
peers if her beliefs and actions are consistent with those
in the peer group.
In many cases, peers and others influence a persons
political view via a two step communication flow
(Bennett 2008; Zaller 1992).
(Step One) People with greater interest and knowledge of
politics absorb new information from various sources.
(Step Two) Then they relay what they have learned to
others, especially those in the mass public whose political
beliefs are less salient and developed.

Agents of Political Socialization

-Peer Groups Peer influence is a powerful factor in the radicalization of many
of the home grown terrorists who are becoming a significant
threat in many countries.
Individuals, especially young adult males, who feel alienated and
alone as part of a cultural and religious minority find
encouragement and direction in a small group of peers who
gather informally.
Two recent examples of terrorists who emerged from such
groups are the two Anglo-Indians who rammed an automobile
filled with explosives into the Glasgow Airport terminal in summer
2007 and the 23-year-old American Muslim who planned to
detonate hand grenades in a Chicago mall in 2006( Meyer
2007).

Agents of Political Socialization

-The media and culture For most adults, the media, especially television, radio,
and the press, are the major sources of political
information.
Media can be a crucial agent of political socialization for
either stability or change.
These information sources do mediate between the
individual and most political reality.
For most people, the media have their greatest impact
during situations of political drama( e.g., war, major
political crisis, elections).

Agents of Political Socialization

-The media and culture Two broad observations can be offered on the impact of the
media on peoples political beliefs and actions.
First, few people absorb media information in a way that
significantly changes most of their political attitudes or actions.
Rather, people interpret and retain media information
selectively to reinforce their existing attitudes.
Second, however, there is considerable evidence that the
media are increasingly important in shaping many peoples
understandings of specific political phenomena. The mass
media have an agenda setting impact-drawing peoples
attention to some political phenomena rather than to others-.

Agents of Political Socialization

-The media and culture For many young people, the Internet has become the key
source of political information.
The easy access to powerful search engines and vast

online resources from around the globe and the capacity

to participate in discussion environments such as blogs
offer individuals extensive opportunities to use the new
media to reinforce or alter their political orientations and to
inform their political actions

Agents of Political Socialization

-The media and culture Much of what you know about the political world from the
media is contingent on what topics the media choose to
expose you and what content the media select to report.
In many countries, the major media are owned and
controlled by the government or by members of the
wealthy, dominant class in society.
Most governments expose people to news and
information that reinforce the governments view of the
political world.

Agents of Political Socialization

-The media and culture Culture offers an interesting alternative to the media and
to other agents of political socialization.
Like the media, culture can be controlled by the dominant
political order in a society and can be used to reinforce
the states view of the political world.
For example, Cuba has generally insisted that culture
must meet the standards of socialist realism, which
means that no art, theatre, or cinema is to be produced
that is abstract or, that fails to celebrate the virtues of
socialism.

Agents of Political Socialization

-The media and culture Culture can also be openly subversive, directly attacking

mainstream values or advocating opposing values.

For

example, Jamaican reggae music offers a

revolutionary vision of an alternative social and political
world for its people.

Agents of Political Socialization

-Events While the context of everyday life has slow, evolutionary effects
on a persons political behaviour, a particular event can act as a
sudden and powerful agent of political socialization.
It is also possible that the general flow of events during an

entire period can influence political orientations.

For example, the combined impacts of such events as

American military involvement in Vietnam and Southeast Asia,

the hippie culture, and the Nixon presidency seem to have had
strong effects on the political understandings of many
Americans who were reaching adulthood during the late 1960s.

Personal Characteristics
The research suggests that you can make some broad

inferences about a persons political behaviour on the

basis of certain objective personal features.
Sometimes called demographic characteristics, these

include both visible characteristics, such as age, gender,

and ethnicity, and less visible ones, such as education,
income, social class, and occupation.

Personal Characteristics
What

underlying dynamic might link personal

characteristics with political behaviour?
Personal characteristics can be thought of as filters that
influence how the environment and the agents of political
socialization affect an individuals political behaviour.
For example, the relevance of the environmental factor of
Islamic fundamentalism will have very different effects on
the political beliefs and behaviours of Saudi men and
women. Similarly, the current impact of parents as agents
of political socialization is likely to be far greater for their
offspring of age 4 than of 44.

Personal Characteristics
Of particular interest to researchers have been studies

indicating who is more likely to vote and identifying factors

that seem to explain the particular voting choice.
For example, can you think of any personal characteristics

that might inform your prediction of whether a particular

person voted for George W. Bush or John Kerry in the 2004
U.S presidential elections?
The probability of voting for Bush was higher among those
who had any of the following characteristics: Protestant
religion, Caucasian ethnicity, and being married. For Kerry:
African Americans, Chicano Latinos, and Asian Americans,
unmarried, under 30 years old, and Jews.

Personal Characteristics
Although there are some clear associations among

variables, we cannot conclude that any personal

characteristic actually caused a person to vote for a
particular candidate. And when several personal
characteristics are associated with voting choice, we also
cannot determine which of them are the most powerful
predictors of candidate choice without statistical analysis.

Personal Characteristics
In general, a higher probability of

While generalizations

are always difficult, there

is some consistency in
the empirical research
on the personal
characteristics of those
who do vote.

voting is correlated with such

characteristics as membership in
organizations that have explicit
interests in politics( e.g., political
parties, unions), higher education,
higher income, higher social class,
greater age, and male gender.
Incidence
of
voting
is
also
associated with the persons political
beliefs,
especially
a
strong
identification with a party, a greater
sense of personal capacity to
influence the political world(political
efficacy), and better understanding
of the available political choices.

Personal Characteristics
In studying extremist-activists, many analyses attempt to

specify the personal characteristics that typify a particular

type of activist relative to the general population.
For example, many of the Muslims who have engaged in
terrorist acts are young adult males who are well-educated
and come from middle-class families( Berrebi 2007;
Sageman 2004).
The rural extremist-activists who are engaged in a struggle
for control over land in Asia and Latin America tend to be
male, poor, and of limited education.
Urban activists who promote leftist ideologies are generally
characterized as being well educated, middle class, young,
and only slightly more likely to be male than female.

Political Personality
Some analysts insist that an adequate explanation of
political behaviour requires explication of the political
personality- the deeper psychological dynamics inside the
individual that affect her response to political stimuli.

Personality
Can be defined as the propensities within an individual to act

in a certain way, given a particular context.

If someone is usually cheerful or aggressive or thoughtful

under a variety of circumstances, this style of behaving could

be called a personality trait of that individual.
It seems plausible that personality could influence the

political beliefs and actions of any individual.

Most of the empirical research examining political personality

has focused on the beliefs and actions of political activists.

Political Personality
-Normative approaches People have always had strong opinions about the kind of
personality that a political leader ought to have.
What personality characteristics do you think are
desirable in a political leader?
Machiavelli(1469-1527),
author
of
the
Prince( 1517/1977), advices about the kind of personality
a political leader needs to have. For him, the leader must
combine the qualities of the lion( aggressive, bravery) and
the fox( cleverness) and must make the citizens
completely dependent on her every decision and action.

Political Personality
-Empirical Approaches There are also empirical studies aim to explain the behaviour of top
political leaders and activists.
These studies attempt to identify their key personality traits( such as

idealism, aggressiveness, frustration, and so on) and then link those

traits to specific political beliefs and actions.
For example, Harold Lasswell(1960),one of the intellectual founders of

the behavioural political science, argues that the activist political

personality is motivated primarily by the drive to overcome a low sense
of self-esteem. However, the systemic empirical evidence suggests
that most top political leaders actually rank higher on measures of selfesteem and psychological well-being than does the average
adult( Sniderman 1975).

Political Personality
Erik Erikson( 1958, 1969), among the most influential

scholars in this tradition, adopts a Freudian framework to

reveal the crucial importance of child rearing and early
socialization through adolescence in determining the
activists later political behaviour.
Empirical, personality-based approaches have also been

used to account for the behaviour of other types of

political activists, such as student radicals.
There has been also interest in analysing the psychology

of those who engage in terrorist acts.

Political Personality
-Human Nature Some of those who offer a psychological explanation for
political behaviour do not focus on individual personality or
even on a particular culture; rather, they emphasize a more
generalized conception grounded in human nature- innate
motivations and invariant drives shared by all people.
The

question is whether there are innate human

motivations that affect political behaviour and it is linked
with another question whether there are fundamental
elements of human nature that cannot be significantly
altered by socialization and institutions.

Political Personality
-Human Nature In general one claim underpinning the human nature
approach seems reasonable: we are not merely the
product of our environment.
But the crucial issue relevant to understanding politics is

the extent to which individual personality and human

nature cause political behaviour.

Empirical social science has yet to provide decisive

answers to these questions about nature versus nurture in
relation to politics.

Concluding Observations
This chapter began by asking whether it is possible to

explain political beliefs and actions.

In general, analyses can rarely prove that any of the four

types of explanatory factors we examined is almost

always the basic causal factor for a particular micro
political behaviour.
Nonetheless, the evidence summarized in this chapter

suggests that relevant knowledge about each of these

four sets of explanatory factors can provide significant
insights regarding political behaviour.