Political affiliation in relation to certain psychosocial variables

CONCEPT OF POLlTICAL AFFILIATION Since the incept of mankind and civilization human behavior is governed by many factors viz needs, motives, aspirations, values, customs, traditions etc. which are moulded by the cultural, environmental, economic and political !actors in a specific manner. Some of the needs though are considered secondary by Maslow ( 1934) but they have occupied a central position in the governance of human behavior. Among them political factors perlrnps have played the dominant role in shaping one's behavior especially during the last om: and a hnlr decade not only in India hut across the world. However, the dctcrmin.ints or these political factors in the whole world are somehow not parallel or similar to those or Indian politics. This may perhaps he attributed to the diversity in many respects of religion, region, caste, class, education, urban, rural, gender bias which all have coined the believes of the Indian population in a typical manner. This in tum have influenced their complete life style and behavior, hut interestingly these political factors have unstable polarization which leads to the variation in the political affiliation of the Indi.:m people at one or the other time. These variations in political affiliations cannot he easily specified &n