PART 2: POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
By
Carl Patton
Some scholars place the agents of
socialization in two categories. The home is the initial institution that a
person is introduced to. Thus, the home plays a major role in shaping one's world
outlook from birth. Peer group pressure and contact with friends also have an
effect on one's behavior and attitude. Families that teach their children that
the oppressive conditions of Blacks are related to Black inability to compete
adequately with Caucasians will definitely form inferiority complexes in the
Black child. These messages of inferiority are then passed on to friends and
one's particular peer group.
It is also of note that the drive to
integrate also helped instill certain inferiority complexes. The move to fair
and equal access in itself is positive. However the paradigm established by the
Black intellectual community that assisted Thurgood Marshall in Brown V. Board
of Education did a disservice to the Black community. The legalization of Black
inferiority and Black inferiority as a means to secure a court decision
confused the struggle for Human and Civil Rights.
The second category for the agents of
socialization is found in the schools. Here we find the educational process
toward socialization. Social clubs, places of work, mass media (T.V. radio,
newspapers, etc.); all fall under this secondary category of agents of
socialization. The mass media forms public opinion by constantly projecting the
news in the interest of those that seek to exploit the mass population. Thus,
society is conditioned to accept without question slanted and biased
interpretations of the news.
Social clubs and places of work are
often an extension of responses to certain stimuli from one's educational experience.
Black people join Greek organizations because they have been conditioned in
school to accept this as a positive move toward middle-class aspirations.
Blacks pursue vocations in banking because their educational experience has put
forth this area of work as a way to the mainstream of American life.
The role of the school in the
socialization process is critical. In many instances the school has a negative
effect on the Black educational experience. Institutions of higher learning,
along with other socialization agents are responsible for insuring that a
pattern of behavior dictated by the existing regime are accepted and
legitimate. Hence there should be new responsibilities for Black colleges to
the Black community.
From our experiences and analysis
Black schools as well as Black leadership have serious flaws. Sadly Black
schools sponsor Censorship and the assault on academic freedom is on-going to
defeat independent thinking. Thus you have to accept a particular mind set
(intellectual Uncle Tom) to obtain doctoral degrees in the social sciences from
Black schools and their mainstream counterparts. However, it is difficult for a
serious student interested in Truth to play an Uncle Tom game. Therefore those
that cannot grasp the game (or don't find out until later in the game) are
harassed, intimidated as the agents of Mis-Education commit acts of academic
homicide.
Meanwhile, the Black political self
grows out of the agents of political socialization. In some homes we find that
parents have come to believe in the myths of inferiority as to Black Americans.
For example parents that have been trained and brainwashed in some of our
so-called best schools have an added advantage toward bourgeois thinking and
elitistism. A child being taught this in the home often finds these myths
reinforced in the schools. The negative self image that results from the
socialization process of home and school stifles any positive political
practice.
This negative self image is very
prevalent in the fictional writings of people like Richard Wright, James
Baldwin and Ralph Ellison. All of these writers have noted the negative effect
of the negative Black self image.
The Black awareness movement of the
60's also attempted to dis-spell the myths of Black negativism. The
"Nigger ain't shit" syndrome etc. is the success of the socialization
process and its tragic results that have maintained Blacks in a subordinate
position in the American economy and political system. Blacks taking on the
negative self- image complex have often as not also taken on the attitude of
trying to be Black and White.
The ultimate result of White society
to maintain Blacks in an exploitative position is that some Blacks strive to
copy the White man as much as possible and instead of resistance to oppression
we find that these Blacks help oppress themselves. For example Black people
need to develop their own theories of Liberation. Even though there is much to
be noted from the Socialists' analysis of world economy, Marx has not developed
a Utopian philosophy. Thus, the hatred for Capitalism should not cloud one's
vision to play the spite game. Capitalism whether Black or White is not all
bad. Capitalism only becomes negative when it exploits other people.
Meanwhile the Marxists argue that
Capitalism by its very nature exploits the workers. But what of the
contradictions of Marxism? Marxism is negative also as it exploits other people
with its limited and narrow view of the world. However, the biggest flaw in
Marxian jargon is the denial of the Creator.
It is unattainable for Blacks to
become White. It is also impossible for Blacks to be Marxists. Marx spoke for
the European not the Black masses and the people of the Third World. If Blacks
want to be Socialists they need to develop their own Socialist theories and
adapt them to the Black experience. Therefore, Blacks that attempt to be White
are on a path of perpetual self hatred and frustration. American society has by
way of symbols and the agents of political socialization directed the political
practice of Blacks down a reactionary road with no regard to the realities of
the Black political experience. The most tragic result is that many Black
intellectuals and leaders have assisted in their own oppression and the
oppression of their people.
However, there is another institution
in the Black community. The church is a very important element in the analysis
of political socialization. Here the belief in God has been tainted by the
belief in Money. Thus, the church has often been a place of socializing instead
of Truth and God. The church is more critical than any other institution in our
society. But with the failure of the people to follow God the church is in a
crisis. Thus, humankind is in a crisis.
carl@freedomjournalpress.comcastbiz.net
All rights reserved FreedomJournal Press 2009.
