 Welcome everyone, dear learners. Welcome to you all to our today's counseling session of BA, Political Theory Part B, that is Political Socialization. It is also related with our MA third semester Political Sociology paper in which the unit political socialization is included in unit number three. Today, I am Bipul Das, Associate Professor of the Discipline of Political Science, going to deliver this lecture on the topic political socialization. And for the benefit of our discussion, we have divided the lecture into three parts and in three parts we will complete or try to complete the unit political socialization. And now I am moving towards the first part of this session. In this part, after discussion of this part, we will be able to explain the meaning of political socialization. And we will also know the nature and feature of political socialization. Dear learners, as we all know that political socialization is one of the important aspects or concepts of political theory. It is a process through which political culture is maintained and it is a continuous process which continues from childhood till our lifetime or throughout life. And political socialization process deals with all sections of the society which may be high, low, poor, rich etc. In other words, no one is out of this process of political socialization. Dear learners, if there is a change in attitudes, values and orientations of any politically socialized group that can bring a change both in political system as well as political culture. It is well known to all of us that if we change our values, our attitudes, our orientation towards a political system or towards any political system, then definitely it will impact the existing or ongoing political process, political socialization process of that system. So, now we are moving towards the meaning and definition of political socialization. The different scholars have defined political socialization according to their own ways. And among them, we may mention some, but before we moving proceed towards the main definition of political socialization, first we should know about what is socialization. By socialization, we mean that process through which people of a society learn their values, beliefs, norms and goals of their culture. I am again repeating, by socialization we mean that process through which we or the people of a society learn their values, we learn our values, we learn our beliefs, we learn the norms, what are the norms on the basis of which our society is going on and what are the goals of our culture that is socialization. In other words, or in simple words, we may say that it is the process of molding and shaping the personality of the human infant, that means the process of molding and shaping the personality of the human infant is called socialization. Then according to American political scientist Gabriel Almond and G. B. Powell, political socialization is the process by which political cultures are maintained and sensed. Powell said, Powell and Almond that political socialization is the process through which we may maintain and we may change the political culture of our system. Then another political thinker, J. Austin Rene said, political socialization generally means socialization of the masses, the process by which ordinary people develop their attitudes towards their political system. That means as Rene said, with the help of political socialization, generally the common people, the masses, earn or learn the attitudes, their behavior towards the political system where they live. Again, Alan Harbaugh defines to him, political socialization is the establishment and development of beliefs about the political system. That means if what are the beliefs of one person towards his or her political system is the political socialization. For example, what I believe, what I develop regarding the political system of my country is called political socialization. Then Robert Schegel said, political socialization is the gradual learning of the norms, attitudes and behavior acceptable to the ongoing political system. As per Robert Schegel, the political socialization is a gradual learning process of the norms, of the attitudes, of the behavior which are accepted by the ongoing political system. That means by his or her own political system where he or she lives. That means any beliefs, any learning, any norms, any attitudes which I believe must be accepted by the system. Otherwise it will not be regarded as political socialization because it may hamper the interests of the society, interests of the other people, interests of the political system. So any system, any attitude, any norms, any behavior, what one develops must be acceptable by the ongoing political system. So in this way different scholars have defined political socialization differently. From the above definitions we may forward the nature or features of political socialization. First we may say that political socialization is a continuous process. Why it is continuous process? Because it is continued throughout the life of an individual. No one can stop it during his or her lifetime. Secondly, it is not a static process but dynamic. It is well known to allow us that neither political institutions nor attitudes of the people towards a system always remain the same. Because it is changing with the changes of situation, environment or maybe social background. So it is always dynamic. Then we may say that the process of political socialization is ongoing and it is transmitted from one generation to another. In other words, we may say that political socialization is an ongoing process which is transmitted from one generation to the next to the other. Then we may say that it is a universal phenomenon. It is universal. Why? Because political socialization process is found everywhere in any political society or in the world. Of course we may say that it may be more visible in a democratic society than in a totalitarian society. Why? Because in democratic society every citizen have more rights than or in comparison to a totalitarian society where the people are given less independence. Then we may say that political socialization aims at political stability and not at political violent or revolutionary changes. From this term, it is clear to allow us that political socialization always tries to establish political stability. In other words, it does not want any violent or revolutionary changes. And in this regard, it introduces such values which develop trust among the people in their political system. Then we may say that it is a manifest process. For example, why it is manifest? Manifest means it's open. For example, when in school and colleges we give civic instructions, our main object is to teach to the future citizens of the country. Because with the help of this instruction, we want to mold our future citizens so that they can develop and earn some values which are helpful for the welfare of the political system or society. It is also a latent process. Latent means hidden. For example, when the parents at home and the teachers in the school advise the children to respect their elders and obey their commands, they indirectly give to the children lessons in political socialization. Then we may say that political socialization is related with political culture. That means to maintain political culture, to change political culture and to origin political culture, there should be always political socialization. And that's why we may say that political socialization is always related with the process of our political culture. So, from all these points, it is clear for us that political socialization is a lifelong process through which an individual becomes acquainted with the political system. Dear learners, so far as we have discussed about the meaning, definition and nature of political socialization, and we would like to end our discussion of part one here. And in the next part, we will discuss about the various agents of political socialization. And here I have given a few books for your reference. If you want to study more elaborately, then you may go or you may search these in the books mentioned here. So, thank you. Thank you all.