Download Political Culture – Dec 1

Political Culture
Dec. 1
Political Culture
 “The orientation of the citizens of a
nation [or political community]
towards politics, and their perceptions
of political legitimacy and the
traditions of political practice. Set of
values, attitudes, and beliefs related
to state authority and the political
system.”
- from textbook glossary
Political Culture
 “When we speak of the political culture of a society,
we refer to the political system as internalized in
the cognitions, feelings, and evaluations of its
population. People are induced into it just as they
are socialized into nonpolitical roles and social
systems” (Almond and Verba, 1963: 14).
 Cognitive orientations include knowledge and
beliefs about the political system.
 Affective orientations involve feelings about the
system, such as attachment, or lack thereof.
 Evaluative orientations involve judgments and
opinions about the system.
Political Culture
 is meant to refer to core values of a society
in relation to political and economic issues,
rather than short-term or ephemeral
opinions about politics.
 There may be significant variations within a
given political community.
 Political culture tends to be a ‘slippery’ or
imprecise concept.
Studying political culture
 Various political scientists have studied
political cultures in the attempt to explain
economic development and/or the
establishment and stabilization of liberal
democracy.
 It is used as an alternative explanation to
more ‘structural’ forms of analysis such as
Marxism.
Significance of political culture
 What matters most? political culture
or class structure?
 Do institutions (political, social,
economic) shape values and beliefs,
or do values and beliefs shape
institutions?
 What factors determine or shape
public policy? ideas, interests,
institutions?
Max Weber
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism, 1905.
Weber related the rise of capitalism to
the existence of the Protestant
religion in certain sections of Europe.
Protestant religious and social values
facilitated the development of
capitalism.
The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes
and Democracy in Five Nations
by Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, 1963.
Conducted and analyzed survey data from US,
UK, West Germany, Italy and Mexico.
They pointed to three kinds of political culture:
1. parochial political cultures (low expectations
and awareness of political system)
2. subject political cultures (individuals are aware
but do not participate)
3. participant political cultures (individuals are
active and involved in the political system)
The critique of the Civic Culture
 The book was highly acclaimed as a
breakthrough, inspiring further studies
along the same lines.
 On the other hand, its analysis and
approach came under attack by the late
60s and into the 70s.
 limits of methodology
 lack of structural analysis
 ethnocentric (or pro-American bias)
 vagueness of the political culture concept
 lack of explanatory power
Making Democracy Work
by Robert Putnam, 1993
Putnam looks at the kind of political
culture that sustains democracy,
emphasizing “trust”, the vibrancy of
civil society, social networks and
social capital.
Ronald Inglehart
The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and
Political Styles among Western Publics,
1977.
Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society,
1990.
Based on extensive public opinion survey
data, Inglehart argues that the political
cultures of advanced capitalist societies
shifted in the postwar period toward postmaterialist values.
The Clash of Civilizations and the
Remaking of World Order
by Samuel Huntington, 1996.
Huntington argues that in the newly
emergent post-Cold War era, the
major struggles would be between
cultures or civilizations (rather than
economic systems).
Political Culture
 Cultural (or political culture) analysis
and explanations remain common yet
controversial.
 It can often be reduced to
stereotypes or forms of essentialism.
 The cultural variable remains hard to
entirely dismiss, but on the other
hand, its overall explanatory value is
limited.