The Political Socialisation of Schoolchildren

Abstract

School is regarded by Soviet political leaders as the most important agent of political socialisation. First, it encompasses practically all young people for an extended period of time during their most formative years and, second, the contents of teaching and the school’s organisation and activities can be largely prescribed and controlled by the authorities and geared to the objectives of political socialisation as envisaged by the Communist Party. In fact, the school is even assigned the role of combining and coordinating the efforts of other agents of socialisation, such as the family and youth organisations, in order to reinforce them or to counteract potentially dysfunctional influences, thus attempting to control the whole complex process of the political and moral upbringing of school-age children.