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Perceptions of Socialism in Post-Socialist Ghana: An Experimental Analysis

Multiple meanings are attached to the ideology of African socialism in post-socialist Ghana. The range and complexity of these meanings are best understood through experimental techniques. In this article Q analysis sheds new light on earlier findings regarding the subjective, affective, and cognitive elements of thinking about African socialism in Ghana. Subtle ideological differences are explored among a homogeneous group of Ghanaians. Ten years after the exile of Kwame Nkrumah from Ghana, and after two military regimes and an intervening civilian regime, Ghanaians are celebrating a renaissance of Nkrumaism. For ten years following Ghana's independence in 1957, Ghanaians were subject to Nkrumah's prolific verbal output concerning “scientific socialism,” consciencism, and Pan-Africanism. The meanings attached to these concepts by Nkrumah and by his followers remain clearly ambiguous. This ambiguity is understandable given the fact that Nkrumah's often contradictory writings on the subject of scientific socialism were devoid of the rigor which scholars often associate with that term. It could be argued that Nkrumah was more interested in political mobilization and constructive myth-making than ideological rigor. The routinization of the new order involves the transmission of the myths and folklore of the culture over time. The myths of a communal and ancestral heritage, for example, are important for cultural maintenance. This mythology contributes a unique dimension to Ghanaian culture which distinguishes it from others in the minds of natives. The literal applicability of Nkrumah's scientific socialism to any given situation is not as important as the Ghanaian belief that society is, for example, egalitarian or anti-colonial, and contains certain implicit rules circumscribing wealth and exploitation. In the end, the maintenance of cultural order is more dependent on these rules and distinguishing features than on rabbit farms and bicycle plants. While political regimes must provide the latter, they must engage in the transmission of the cultural norms and myths through continuing processes of socialization. Perhaps it is within the context of constructive myth-making that Nkrumah's ideological contributions can be best understood.