Political Culture

Course instructor Dr Arshad javed Rizvi

Greenwich University

Introduction

1. Conceptions of Political Culture 2. Structure of Political Culture 3. Types of Political Culture 4. Function of Political Culture 5. History of the Research

1. Conception of Political Culture

(1) Case: My Family Creeds (2) Conception Defined by Almond (3) Other Conceptions (4) Conclusion

(2) Conception Defined by Almond

Subjective orientation of political system

Elements: Political cognizance Political attitude Political evaluation

(3) Other Conceptions

Political culture may be defined as the political psychology of a country or nation.

Political culture may be defined as the political psychology and political thought.

Political culture may be defined as the political psychology, political thought and political institution.

(4) Conclusion

Political culture is subjective orientation of a political system.

Elements of Political Culture (Almond)

COGNITION = empirical knowledge (how things are) Example: "A market economy is more productive

than a planned economy.“ ATTITUDE = positive and negative feelings (how

things feel) Example: “President Bush is abominable”

VALUE = normative belief (how things ought to be) Example: "Individual liberty should be the most

important thing” IDEOLOGY= system of ideas

Example:”Liberalism is the good solution for the social problems ”

2.Structure of Political Culture

Back

Elements of Political Culture (Inglehart) Aim

Aims of country Aims of respondent Most important goals

Political system Political system Political parties Democracy

Attitudes concerning society Political action

Political action Who should decide

Others

Dimensions of political ideology Increased spending on public housing Employ minorities Banning sexually explicit movies Mandatory testing for AIDS

11

Cycle of the Elements

Cognizance

Attitude

Value

Ideology

*Footnote

Source: Source

3. Types of Political CultureSystem as GeneralObjects

Input Objects

Output Objects

Self as Active Participant

Parochial 0 0 0 0

Subject 1 0 1 0

Participant 1 1 1 1

3. Types of Political Culture

(1) participant, in which citizens understand and take part in politics and voluntary associations;

(2) subject, in which citizens largely obey but participate little;

(3) parochial, in which citizens have neither knowledge of nor interest in politics.

3. Almond's Three Publics 1. A general public of a majority. The kind of public

does not know or care about much beyond their immediate concerns. For example, they show little interest in foreign policy unless the country is in a war or international crisis.

2. An attentive public of a minority. They are better educated and followed more abstract political concerns in the field of foreign policy.

3. A policy and opinion elite of a few highly influential people. They are involved in politics, often professionally.

Affect a Polity’s Stability

Political systems that possess cultures that are homogeneous with respect to regime and community are “integrated.” They are likely to be more stable than systems that lack such integration

Public Opinion Democracy and Good Governance Making Decisions Public Policy

5. History of the Research

Key scholars on political culture Key books on political culture

Key Scholars on Political Culture

Gabriel Almond Sidney Verba Lucian Pye Samuel Huntington Robert Putnam Ronald Ingerhart

Key Books on Political Culture Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture:

Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (1963) Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture

Revisited (1980) Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions

in Modern Italy (1993) Samuel P. Huntington ， The Clash of Civilizations And

The Remaking Of World Order (1996) Robert Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub, The

Democracy Sourcebook, Cambridge: the MIT Press, 2003, pp.168-180.