American Political Culture

1. American Political Culture Chapter 4

2. “Culture has you before you have culture” • Culture is difficult to define • Culture is learned • Culture dictates what appears “normal” to you • Culture changes continuously • Influences the way you think about things • Defines accepted and predictable behaviors

3. Socialization • Which of these factors influences you the most?

4. American Political Culture • Political Culture is a way of thinking about how political and economic life should be carried out • Our political culture has allowed our system to persist • The #1 factor that influences your personal political beliefs is your family. • Ex: We believe that when an election is over, the losing party should accept the results.

5. American Political Culture • Americans tend to believe in the following: • Liberty • Equality • Democracy • Civic Duty (?) • Individual responsibility • We are contentious • We vote less, participate more • People have faith in our governmental system, but mistrust government officials Is our mistrust of government officials rooted in our experience in the American Revolution?

6. Economic Beliefs • Everyone should be equal politically, but not economically • - Assumptions about the economy: • Liberty – free enterprise capitalism with some regulations • Equality – believe in “equality of opportunity,” not “equality of results” (Puritan work ethic) • Individualism – Skeptical of aid, but help those truly in need • - Other countries are more likely to support programs that stress economic equality of results over opportunity among their citizens (i.e. health care)

7. Equality of Results or Opportunity • Americans tend to believe in providing “opportunity” through public education or job training, but skeptical of programs that provide equality of “results.”

8. American Religious Culture • Americans are particularly religious and often participate in society through religious institution • We generally believe in a right to religious freedom Bush pushed for “faith-based” initiatives and Obama continued this by creating the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

9. The Culture War • The culture war on issues where money is not at stake (i.e. abortion, gay rights, drug use, school prayer, pornography) are based on 2 camps: • The orthodox – believe that morality is more important than self-expression; morals are unchanging • The progressives – believe that personal freedom is more important than moral rules; morals change with society • - More people are progressive today • - The popular media allows culture wars to be played out on a large scale

10. Political Efficacy • Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. • Political efficacy is the belief that you can take part in politics (internal efficacy) and that the government will respond to everyday citizens (external efficacy). • Americans often have a low external political efficacy as they feel that the government will not respond to them even if they maintain a decent amount of internal efficacy.

11. American Political Culture • Some of the basic things that we believe about the world are based on the American culture that most of us grow up in… so it is important to understand how our culture influences us. • Our discussion focuses on those things that are common to many Americans, but there are cultural differences along religious, racial, and geographic lines. • A general tolerance of political differences is an important aspect of American political culture Generic Diversity Picture