Easton & Dennis (1969) A Political Theory of Political Socialization

in "Children in the Political System"

Chapter 3
stability AND change are potentially outcomes of socialization.

A political system: those interactions through which valies are authoritatively allocated for a society, that is, through whuch binding decisions are made and implemented. Concretely a political system is a is a set of structures and processes through which demands of the "politically relevant" members are converted into binding decisions and related actions" (48).
converts inputs into outputs (see conceptualization on page 48). "open, self-regulating, goal directed, and self-transforming units of behavior" (49).
The political system in the US has been adaptive--which is why it has prevailed.

*Relevance of socialization for persistence theory (49)
-system change as well as persistence are both potential goals of the political system
-political socialization needs to be understood in relation to a broader theory of political systems

Thus, the question to ask is: what part, if any, does socialization play in enabling a political system to persist even in the face of a variety of stresses and strains on the essential system variables to which most systems are exposed" (51).

*System Stress (51)
"Socialization plays a vital part in enabling some kind of political system to persist" (51)."the persistence of some kind of political system would therefore depend upon the way in which it handles typical stresses" (52).
Where does stress come from?
outputs: outputs are those decisions and actions taken by the political authorities.
demand-input: too many demands at once--devices include rules as well as individual restraints built into the system.
input-support: feelings of trust, confidence, or affection and their opposites, that persons may direct to some object.
the meaning of support -- if support is positive a person favors an object; if support is negative, he withholds or withdraws his favor from the object. support will vary.
the object of support --
the political community: that aspect of a political system that we can identify as a collection of persons who share a division of political behavior.
regime: part of the political system that we may calls its constitutional order in the very broadest sense of the term.
authorities: those members of a system in whom the primary responsibility is lodged for taking care of the daily routines of a political system.
types of support-- (1) specific, (2) diffuse (the generalized trust and confidence that members invest in the various objects of the system as ends in themselves) (63).

NOTES FORM CLASS: jennings
the value of this approach is:
(1) forces us to look at the micro/macro linkages
(2) its concern with the political system is good--study individuals for the sake of understanding the functioning of the system.