Political Culture PDF

Chapter 4 Political Culture  Each society imparts its norms and values to its people, who pick up distinct notions about how the political system is supposed to work and about what the government may do to them and for them. These beliefs, symbols, and values about the pol...

Chapter 4 Political Culture  Each society imparts its norms and values to its people, who pick up distinct notions about how the political system is supposed to work and about what the government may do to them and for them. These beliefs, symbols, and values about the political system are the political culture of a nation—and it varies considerably from one nation to another.  The political culture of a nation is determined by its history, economy, religion, and folkways. Basic values, laid down long ago, may endure for centuries.  Political culture is a sort of collective political memory. America on the basis of “competitive individualism was founded ,” a spirit which is still very much alive. The French, after centuries of étatisme, still expect a big state to supervise the economy.  As defined by political scientist Sidney Verba, political culture is “the system of empirical beliefs, expressive symbols, and values, which defines the situation in which political action takes place.” Much of this goes far back. Americans always liked minimal government.  Political Culture and Public Opinion:  Political culture and public opinion overlap, for both look at attitudes toward politics. Political culture looks for basic, general values on politics and government. Public opinion, on the other hand, looks for views about specific leaders and policies. Political culture looks for the bases of legitimacy, the attitudes that sustain a political system, whereas public opinion seeks responses to current questions.  The methodologies of political culture and public opinion may also overlap: Random samples of the population are asked questions, and the responses are correlated with subgroups in the population.  The questions, however, are different. A political culture survey might ask how much you trust other people; a public opinion survey might ask if you think the president is doing a good job.  Political culture studies often go beyond surveys, however. Some use the methods of anthropology and psychology in the close observation of daily life and in the deep questioning of individuals about their feelings.  Public opinion studies rarely go beyond quantified data, whereas political culture studies can use history and literature to gain insights.  Elites and mass subcultures  The political culture of a country is not uniform and monolithic. One can usually find within it differences between the mainstream culture and subcultures and differences between elite and mass attitudes.  Elites—used here more broadly than “governing elites” (a tiny fraction of 1 percent)—in political-culture studies means those with better education, higher income, and more influence (several percent).  Elites are much more interested in politics and more participatory. They are more inclined to vote, to protest injustice, to form groups, and to run for office. One consistent finding of the Civic Culture study has been confirmed over and over: The more education people have, the more likely they are to participate in politics.  The differences in participation in politics between elites and masses are one of the great ironies of democracy. In theory and in law, a democracy is open to all. In practice, some participate much more than others. Because the better-educated and better-off people (more education usually leads to higher income) participate in politics far more, they are in a much stronger position to look out for their interests.  Political Socializations  In the socialization process, children acquire manners, speech, and convictions that often last lifelong. Although some is formally taught, most is absorbed by imitating others. In the same way, political socialization teaches political values and specific usages. Learning to pledge allegiance to the flag, to sing the national anthem, and to obey authority figures from presidents to police officers is imparted by families, friends, teachers, and television.  Children raised in cultural ghettoes, such as minorities in America’s inner cities, pick up subcultures that are sometimes at odds with mainstream culture. Political socialization is thus crucial to stable government.  The Agents of Socialization  The family:  What children encounter earliest—the family— usually outweighs all other factors. Attempts at overt socialization by government and schools generally fail if their values are at odds with family orientations.  Communist regimes such as Poland’s tried to develop socialist values in a child, but the family—in Poland, often strongly Catholic—taught the child to ignore these messages. Where family and government values are the same, as in the United States, the two modes of socialization reinforce one another.  Parents influence our political behavior for decades. Most people see politics and vote as their parents did. More basically, the family forms the psychological makeup of individuals, which in turn determines many of their political attitudes. It imparts norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes such as party attachment and trust or cynicism about government.  The early years have the strongest effect, especially from ages three to thirteen. Children accept parental values unconsciously and uncritically and may retain them all their lives. People often give back to the world as adults what they got from it as children. One study found that people with authoritarian personalities had been treated roughly as children.  Almond and Verba found that those who remembered having had a voice in family decisions as children had a greater adult sense of political efficacy. The school:  More deliberate socialization occurs in school. Most governments use history to inculcate children with pride and patriotism. Many African nations try to unify their tribes, usually with different languages and histories, by teaching in French or English about a mythical past when they were a great and united.  U.S. schools did a brilliant job of turning immigrants from many lands into one nation, something critics of bilingual education say must be restored.  The amount of schooling also affects political attitudes.  People with many years of education show a stronger sense of responsibility to their community and feel more able to influence public policy than do less-educated citizens. People with more schooling are more participatory.  College graduates are more tolerant and open-minded, especially on questions of race, than high- school dropouts, who are often parochial in outlook.  Education imparts more open-minded attitudes, and educated people generally enjoy higher incomes and status, which by themselves encourage interest and participation.  Peer Groups Friends and playmates also form political values. The relative strength of peer-group influence appears to be growing. With both parents working, children may be socialized more by peers than by families. Upholders of “family values” see this as the underlying cause of youthful drug-taking and violence. The mass media :  Gaining in influence are the mass media, especially television. Many fear the influence is negative. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam argues that heavy TV watching makes people passive and uninterested in community or group activities.  As with schools, the mass media may be unsuccessful if their messages are at odds with what family and religion teach. Even Soviet researchers found that families were much bigger influences on individuals’ political views than the Soviet mass media.  Iran’s mass media, all controlled by the shah, tried to inculcate loyalty to him, but believing Muslims took the word of their local mullahs in the mosques and hated the shah.  Now, ironically, with Iran’s media controlled by Islamist conservatives, most Iranians believe the opposite of what the press feeds them. Mass media alone cannot do everything.  Mass media may also reinforce other forms of socialization. In a household with conservative parents and conservative neighbors, the kids may also be exposed to conservative messages  Similarly, liberal parents driving their kids to school may expose their kids to relatively liberal messages.  The government itself is an agent of socialization, especially if it delivers rising living standards. Many government activities are intended to explain or display the government to the public, always designed to build support and loyalty.  The power of government to control political attitudes is limited, however, because messages and experiences reach individuals through conversations with primary groups of kin or peers who put their owns pin on messages. Alienated groups may socialize their children to dislike the government and ignore its messages.