Wilson Chapter 4

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Wilson Chapter 4

• Political Culture

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Objective

• Students will take notes and engage in a small
  group discussion in order to describe American
  Political Culture

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Your First Political Memories

• What are your first political memories?
• Describe what you remember
• How old were you?
• Who was responsible for influencing you
  politically?
• Was the memory positive?
• What political party do you identify with? What
  influenced that identification?
• What role does school/family have in your
  political socialization?

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What is Political Culture?

• A patterned set of ways of thinking about how
  politics and government ought to be carried out
• It includes our fundamental assumptions about how
  the political process should operate

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Whats the difference between Political Culture
and Ideology?

• Political ideology refers to a more or less
  consistent set of views on the policies
  government ought to pursue
• While culture is a much broader concept

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What fundamental elements make up American
Political Culture?

• Liberty- Highly important. Let people do as they
  please as long as they dont hurt others
• Equality- to vote and chance to participate
• Democracy- government is accountable to the
  people
• Civic duty- Ought to take community affairs
  seriously
• Individual Responsibility-

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How do we know these are our values?

• They are inferred from looking at the books we
  read, films we watch, speeches and political
  choices we make
• Foreign observers (Like de Tocqueville)
• Opinion polls

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If these values are important, how do we explain
behavior inconsistent with them?

• Humans often behave in an inconsistent fashion
  with beliefs
• But belief acts as an agent of change, slowly
  forcing adherence to the value as people become
  aware of the inconsistency
• The American dilemma

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Why is there so much conflict if we share a
common culture?

• Values can be irrelevant to specific
  controversies
• Values can be inconsistent with one another
  Equality of opportunity may mean curtailing
  personal liberty
• Americanisms

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How does Political Culture affect our ideas about
economics?

• We adopt the same five standards as with
  political systems.
• BUT We are willing to tolerate more economic
  inequality
• WHY? Because we emphasize Personal
  responsibility and Economic Individualism we
  opt for Equality of Opportunity rather than
  Equality of Results

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Who differs in this opinion?

• Civil Rights leaders and Womens rights leaders
  often stress Results more than Opportunity
• WHY?

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What role does Religion play in shaping Political
Culture?

• Americans are more religious than other western
  democracies
• At least for non elites, Americans have become
  more religious over the last two decades
• Religion is attractive to Americans as much for
  civic significance as spiritual significance

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Table 4.7 Religion in Industrialized Nations,
1990-1993
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Table 4.8 American Beliefs about Faith-Based
Programs
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Where do we get our Political Culture?

• History
• American Revolution as a fight over liberty
• Declaration of Independence enshrines certain
  values
• Thus Americans have a preoccupation with the
  assertion and maintenance of rights
• Americans also get from our history a suspicion
  and mistrust of government

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Figure 4.1 Trust in the Federal Government,
1958-2001

• Source University of Michigan, The National
  Election Studies, (September 1999), table 5A.1,
  updated by Los Angeles Times, poll taken November
  10-13, 2001.

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Where do we get our Political Culture? contd

• The Constitution
• The federal system with divided political
  authority provided opportunity for widespread
  participation in politics

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Origins of Political Culture, contd

• Religious Diversity with a dominant Protestant
  tradition
• Led to and was a product of the Constitutional
  prohibition of a state sanctioned church
• Protestant churches provided members with
  organizational experience as they are often
  organized and controlled by the members
• Protestant ethic motivates civic engagement

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How is Political Culture Transmitted?

• The process of transmitting political culture is
  called Political Socialization
• Primarily by the family
• Direct dissemination of values
• Structure of the family
• Equality among family members
• Greater freedom of children

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Other means of Political Socialization

• Religious Institutions- Structure and
  transmission of values
• School- Through history and government classes
  and political perspectives of teachers and peers
• Media- TV, radio, newspapers and magazines
• Real Life Experiences- the primary influence on
  adults