Transcript Ch 7. Political Culture

Ch 7. Political Culture
1

Political culture as sort of map of how people
think and behave
A
map is not the real thing
 But, it can be a useful guide to the real thing.

Political culture, by definition, is supposed to be
different from one another
 Yet,
how much difference?
 Ex) “attitudes toward government”
Ch 7. Political Culture
2
Q1)
Examples of “Political Culture” in Korean Politics
Q2)“Can (Should) political culture be
a political science concept”?
If yes, how so?
If not, why not?
Political culture as a political science concept? Yes!
3
1. Studies of political culture have produced
important empirical findings about political
attitudes and behavior
Ex) the role of education and the family, and the
importance and origins of competence, social trust
and national pride.
 These were often overlooked or underestimated in
previous studies.
Political culture as a political science concept? Yes!
4
2. Political culture is claimed to be a ‘bedrock’
variable – it changes slowly and provides continuity.

As a foundation of democracy, political values and
assumptions are more important than the more
superficial political attitudes usually discussed
by newspapers and opinion polls.
Political culture as a political science concept? Yes!
5
3. Political culture is a key concept linking the
followings..



the micro-politics of individuals with the
macropolitics of institutions and states
subjective (values and attitudes) with the objective
(e.g. voting behavior)
history and traditions with current circumstances
and events.
Political culture as a political science concept? Yes!
6
4. Sample surveys reveal differences in attitudes and
behavior that may be better explained by ‘soft’
cultural variables (values, religious background,
education) than by ‘harder’ variables (social class,
wealth) or by structural variables (the institutional
framework).
Political culture as a political science concept? Yes!
7
5. Political culture certainly does not explain
everything, but it helps to explain quite a wide
range of phenomena

The study of political cultures is often based upon
‘hard’ and extensive quantitative data drawn from
surveys.
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
8
1. Political culture is said to be a ‘soft’, ‘residual’,
‘dustbin’, or ‘fuzzy’ concept that can be used to
explain everything and therefore nothing.

Culture is often used as a post hoc (after the event)
explanation that is not put to an empirical test.
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
9
2. Political culture explanations risk being circular


we infer what people believe from how they
behave, and then explain why they behave from
what they believe.
For example: people behave democratically because
they hold democratic values, and we know that they
hold democratic values because they behave
democratically.
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
10
3. Political culture is closely associated with
attitudes and behavior because it is close to them
in the long causal chain of their determinants.

Political scientists should search for causes that are
further away in the causal chain – e.g. historical, or
economic, or psychological.
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
11
4. Cultures and structures are mutually
interdependent and tend to go together.

It is not surprising, therefore that cultures and
structures are associated, but which is cause and
effect?
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
12
5. Some argue for a ‘bottom-up’ explanation in which
the system is shaped and molded by mass opinions
and behavior
 Others for a ‘top-down’ explanation in which
structures shape or constrain attitudes and
behavior.

If both processes operate, as they well may, how
can we ever sort them out?
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
13
6. Research can show the existence of sub-cultures,
but not their relative importance. For example, is
the elite culture more important than the mass
culture, and how can we tell?

Similarly, how much citizen participation is
necessary to describe a national culture as
‘participant’ – 33 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent,
or perhaps 66 percent?
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
14
7. Where does the political culture come from?


It may be useful to describe a nation’s culture as
‘participant’ or ‘alienated’, but why is it like this?
Why do countries have different political cultures
and where do they come from?
Political culture as a political science concept? No!
15
8. One argument against political culture explanations
is that they deal only with the last link in a long
chain of causes of political behavior.

The real and basic causes of behavior may be
historical, or economic (Marxist and class theory),
or perhaps lie in individual psychology.
Midterm (25%) Results
(100 points based) (median = 88)
16
13
10
12
5
100
5
96
92
88
84
5
80
2
76
2
72
3
68
2
60
1
56
성명 MC(15) 본인성적 / ID(10) 본인성적/ 100기준/ 25% 기준
성적문의 가능시간 (4월 29일, 월요일, 정경대 교수회관 720호)
 장 – 황 = 3:40 -3:55 pm
 양 – 임 = 3:55-4:10 pm
 강 – 선 = 4:10-4:25 pm