Kenneth Prewitt

Political Socialization and Leadership Selection

Hypotheses attempting to explain what types of persons are recruited into political leadership roles in the United States have stressed three factors—(1) the relation ship between the stratification system and leadership selection, (2) the tendency for persons with skills appropriate to the functional needs of society to be recruited into positions of political responsibility, and (3) the proclivity for political self- selection among particular personality types. Though status, appropriate skills, and personality traits may affect the prob ability that a person will select himself or be selected for po litical leadership, none of these factors are necessary or suffi cient conditions for political recruitment. A fourth proposi tion stresses that a small portion of the total population are frequently and intimately in contact with political matters; they are either of a politically active family, involved in school politics or reform movements, or engaged in occupational and civic roles tangential to the political world. The small portion of the population made politically sensitive by their political socialization experiences tend to select themselves for public leadership posts or to be favorably located for recruitment. Though not a large segment of the population, they contribute a sizable share of the political leadership class.

POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION AND POLITICAL ROLES

This study challenges the theory that adult political behavior is little more than an elaboration of patterns rooted in childhood. It is based on evidence from 421 state legislators in 4 states and 129 city councilmen from 23 cities. Comparing and contrasting those who entered politics early and late, the authors conclude that political experiences in childhood and adolescence are less important than more relevant and pressing demands in orienting officeholders to their jobs. Kenneth Prewitt is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, Heinz Eulau is Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, and Betty H. Zisk is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston University.

Social Bias in Leadership Selection, Political Recruitment, and Electoral Context

The meaningful participation of the electorate in the selection of public officials is, in many respects, a defining characteristic of democratic politics. It is, of course, not the only characteristic; and it is, moreover, a characteristic that is not independent of other social phenomena that shape the process of leadership selection.1 In particular, social background broadly conceived as including status at birth and educational or occupational achievement, as well as the intervention of a small politically active stratum in the selection process affect the decision as to who gains control of government. Even in the most democratic society, the electorate does not choose from among all its members. It chooses from among a pool of eligibles disproportionately drawn from the higher social-status groups in society; the availability of these eligibles as political candidates very much depends on the intramural maneuverings within the active stratum by which some are recruited to and others eliminated from candidacy. Although the observation that the selection of persons for polit-

Foundations as Mirrors of Public Culture

We expect private foundations to shape public culture. They have the motive (to improve the world) and the means (discretionary funds); they certainly have tried to alter beliefs and practices. Close examination, however, indicates that foundations do not create so much as accomodate prevailing cultural practice. The earliest large-scale foundations took their cue from the progressive movement and a rationalistic approach to social reform. Across foundation history, the pattern has been to be early followers rather than initiators as evident in the history of funding for environmentalism, feminism, or multiculturalism. Moreover, the decisive changes in political-economic culture in the 1930s and again in the 1980s were only marginally affected by foundations.

School Experiences and Political Socialization A Study of Tanzanian Secondary School Students

KENNETH PREWITT is Associate Professor of Political Science at the lliiiversity o f Chicago. His piiblications iiiclude Political Socialization (co-author) arid The Recruitment of Political Leaders, as well as coiitributioiu to scholarly jotinrals. GEORGE VON DER hlUHLL is noiv teaching at tlie Uiiiversity of Califoniia, Santa Cniz. He is ciirreritly engaged iri a larger study of the impact o f edircatioilal experience oii the formation o f citizenship values iii three East-African coiitirries. DAVID COURT is a graduate of Cambridge University arid former voltiiiteer teacher iii Tanzania. He is cztrreiitly at tlie Stanford Ittterilatioilal Developnierit Editcation Center wliere lie is conipletiiig his P1i.D.; his thesis itivestigates the effect of different schooliiig experiences on social leanring in Tanzatiia.

Nation Versus Region in Kenya: a Note on Political Learning

In the literature on new nations, much attention has been given to the threat to nationhood posed by cultural and linguistic variations, rather less to the political repercussions of the regional inequality with which such variations are often associated. Regional disparities in resources and services inherited at independence tend to be compounded by policies which stress growth rather than equity. Given that such imbalances are not easily or speedily corrected by means of compensatory economic policies – even if the will exists – the political vulnerability of governments to regional disaffection is bound up with the question of whether it is possible for a common national outlook to be superimposed upon regional variation. The purpose of this brief Note is to test two hypotheses which relate to this question against Kenyan data and experience.

The Recruitment of Political Leaders: A Study of Citizen-Politicians.@@@The Threads of Public Policy: A Study in Policy Leadership.@@@City Mangers in Legislative Politics.@@@Local Interest Politics: A One-Way Street.@@@Labyrinths of Democracy: Adaptations, Linkages, Representation, and Policies in Urban Politics.

This study is based on data collected by the City Council Research Project, Stanford University. The project was concerned with decision making in small, natural-state legislative groups, legislative behavior within the city council, the kinds of people who become members of the city council, how they are chosen, how they learn their jobs, and the many problems they have to deal with.