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WHAT IS POLITCAL CULTURE?

WHAT IS POLITCAL CULTURE?. What is “political culture”? A formal definition: A people’s predominant values, beliefs, feelings, and attitudes about the political system of their country and their role in it. Per your text, these are the things “citizens” will die for.

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WHAT IS POLITCAL CULTURE?

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  1. WHAT IS POLITCAL CULTURE? • What is “political culture”? • A formal definition: A people’s predominant values, beliefs, feelings, and attitudes about the political system of their country and their role in it. Per your text, these are the things “citizens” will die for. • Why do all states have these? Why do all states carefully create these shared experiences… which is to say that governments (any many other institutions) engage in political socialization? • A related concept: The collective memory of the nation • Values (what people hold to be most important) • Beliefs (how people believe things are) • Attitudes (pre-existing judgments about authority, others, and the political system; they “prime”) • Feelings (physical and emotional attachments to ones values, beliefs, and attitudes)

  2. What is America’s political culture: Some “Pew Center” data:

  3. What does American political culture look like with respect to support for democracy… some recent data….

  4. Recent Setzler/Yanus research:

  5. Recent Setzler/Yanus research:

  6. Recent Setzler/Yanus research:

  7. Recent Setzler/Yanus research:

  8. Recent Setzler/Yanus research:

  9. HOW MUCH OF A NATION’S POLITICS CAN ITS CULTURE EXPLAIN? • The American case: Where did the American national culture come from? • Sub-political cultures • Interpretation of the same cultural attributes is often inconsistent • Core political beliefs are often inconsistent with actions • Elite vs. mass political culture • Similar cultural attributes, many institutional arrangements?

  10. HOW DOES POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDY “CULTURE” SCIENTIFICALLY? • The “Civic Culture” (Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba): Citizens vs. clients • Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work and Bowling Alone; Francis Fukuyama: The importance of social trust • Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations • Ronald Inglehart’s “post materialism” • Some major findings from these studies: • Can political culture change over time? Within generations? Yes, but it’s path dependent and typically quick change comes with crisis. This is why there is serious concern over growing populism and anti-politics in the advanced industrial democracies. • Can elites make a new culture in a country? India, race/sexism in the US as examples.

  11. WHERE DOES OUR POLITICAL CULTURE COME FROM? • The role of other “agents of socialization”: family (usually, the most impt), age, and defining moments • How do groups & status shape your beliefs? Gender (the gender gap), race, religion (esp. “suspect” religions), partisanship (as tribal identity) • How do governments manipulate their citizens, esp. their young? Peer pressure and norms outside of the family, learning civic practices, & schools/college (curricula) • How do the media shape what you believe? Americans now spend >10 hrs daily on-line. • Echo chambers and cognitive dissidence • Americans still have very low political sophistication • Most news is about the politics of the moment and entertainment focused: personality-driven, negativity, & horse-races

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