The meaning of concepts

In African traditional society, the youth were/are uncritically expected to accept concepts as given and apply them accordingly. On its part, the African traditional society had mechanisms and systems to test the concepts and their meanings such that the concept’s legitimacy was never in doubt. At most, these concepts have been developed and tested over an extended period of time. After independence, the political elite abused this order of things for their benefit in the conduct of politics. They usurped and applied this practice to politics by presenting self-serving concepts to which society, particularly the youth, must become subordinate. Unlike in the African traditional society, these concepts, sometimes characterised by mediocrity, have not been tested over an extended period of time. Indeed, there are often no mechanisms and systems, as is the case in the African traditional society, to test these concepts. In any case, the organisation of society on a democratic basis presents a different ballgame that must be made known to the political elites as follows; any concept introduced into the life of a modern society will be subject to critical scrutiny – any expectation of blind following and acceptance of these concepts stands to be rejected. Goli and Matheus demonstrate the case accordingly.