Transcript Political Culture

Political Culture
Citizen attitudes and
orientations and their
impact
Political Culture
Attitudes and orientations toward politics:
• how a group of people (e.g a social class, an
ethnic group, a region, or a nation) think
• about themselves
• about others
• about how they are governed
• about how they ought to be governed…..
Political culture v. ideology
Different from an ideology or a religion:
• Not a (logically) constrained or integrated
belief system,
• but rather sets of attitudes or orientations
distributed among a given population
• these can be evenly or unevenly distributed,
• widely or narrowly held
• a society can have distinct subcultures
Common to distinguish among:
• Homogeneous v. fragmented political
cultures
• mass v. elite political culture:
– mass political culture: attitudes and
orientations toward politics held by the
population as a whole
– elite political culture: orientations held by
those who have (or are likely to hold) power
Describing political cultures
How would you describe the political culture
of any or all of the following?
• MUN students
• Newfoundlanders
• Canadians
• Americans
Sources of political culture:
Family
Media
Friends
Schools
Affiliations,
Memberships
Region,
Country
Economy
Polity
Global society
What shapes political culture?
Different views:
• Family, school, society through primary
political socialization
• The regime and political system, as a
consequence of the ways in which people
experience it – secondary political
socialization
Different views:
Political culture
Experience with
political system
Society
Political Culture
Some questions and problems:
• Difference between political culture and national
character?
• How can we characterize political culture(s)
• What difference does political culture make?
• Do you need a democratic political culture in
order to sustain democracy?
– If so, what constitutes a democratic political culture?
• Is it sufficient for elites to be committed to
democracy or must ordinary citizens be so
committed as well?
Reminder:
Annotated bibliography due Friday, Oct 5th
(Paper copy preferred or, failing that,
bibliography submitted in the body of your
message)