I.

Political Culture
a. Citizens orientations toward the political system, political and
policymaking process and policy outputs and outcomes (or the
distribution of orientations toward political objects)

II.

Mapping the three levels of political culture:

a. System level citizens and leaders views of values and organizations
holding the system together

1. taps basic commitments to the political System

2. common identity patriotism, national pride
3. legitimacy provides foundation citizens ought to
obey
a. legitimacy depends on system method of leader
selection, tradition, ideology, citizen participation
b. eg: democracy competitive elections and
following the constitution
c. systems w/low legitimacy: political violence may
emerge

b. Process level expectations of how politics should function and

individuals relationship to the political process

1. What do we expect out of government?

a. Participants involved & informed

b. Subjects passive obedience
c. Parochials limited awareness

c. Policy level citizens and leaders policy expectations FROM the

government.

1. Policy expectations big government vs. small government

debates
2. Expectations of Government Process

III.

Consensus and Conflict Political Culture

a. Consensual citizens tend to agree on decisionmaking process and

major problems facing society
b. Conflictual deep, persistent divisions across political attitudes exist
A.

distinct political subcultures may emerge as a result

B.

so distinctive that agents/types of socialization may differ

as well
1. eg: Russia today;
2. Cuban-Americans

*when pol.subculture coincides with ethnic, national or religious

differences divisions can be threatening to stability of society
(cumulative effect)

IV.

Political Socialization

a. The process by which we acquire of beliefs, values and attitudes

about a particular political system (our own, usually)
b. Direct and indirect processes of learning
A.

Direct: explicit communication of info,values, feelings

toward politics ex: civic courses; indoctrination programs
(Taliban, Osama bin Laden trainees)

B.

Indirect: inadvertent molding of political views by life

experiences especially significant for children
i. Current situation in
USA?

c. Continuance throughout life

d. Lifelong learning childhood foundation plus LIFE marriage,
death, parenthood, critical events, moving, new job (events most
significantly effect young people)

V.

Unification or Division

a. Patterns of socialization can do both

b. Social groups w/own sources of news, own sources of culture separate
selves from larger society

VI.

Agents

A.

Family

B.

School

C.

Religious Institutions

D.

Peer Groups

E.

Social Class and Gender

F.

Mass Media

G.

Interest Groups

H.

Political Parties

I.

VII.

Direct Contact with governmental structures

Trends in contemporary political cultures

A.

Result of similar environmental conditions and exposure to

the same historic events => create a trend that may take
political culture into a slightly different realm than we would
expect given regular processes of socialization

B.

Current trends (examples)

1. Modernization secularizing effect of science, control over
nature (its not a message from God, its an eclipse)
a. This process can be disruptive for traditional societies
1. Taliban was in revolt against this
2. Religious leaders in Iran, Saudi Arabia also in
revolt

2. Post-industrialization a byproduct of modernization

people who have come of age in a period of prosperity are
less concerned with the achievement and maintenance of
wealth they assume it as a constant
a. Post-material values: equality, environmental
protection (tree dwellers), self-expression, cultural
pluralism (Tiger Woods, anti-globalization movement)
b. These values are the source of movements restore
freedoms (source of concern about civil liberties today
352 people were detained in the aftermath of 9/11
and Ashcroft, Attorney General requested the power
to detain immigrants indefinitely)
c. Ethnicity resurgence demand for equality
dangerous types of clashes uncertain outcomes

3. Democratization
a. Trend toward democracy an outcome of both
Modernization and current events
b. People more critical of functioning of democracy
(trust in government)
1. Has legitimacy declined in the United States?
2. If so, what are some causes of this decline?
c. Self-Determination people still supportive of
democracy want more freedom (internet, speech,
media access)
1. The consequences of freedom are controversial
2. Freedom brings good and bad

1. free speech pornography

2. criminal justice systems must be mostly reactive
4. Marketization
a. Greater acceptance of free markets and private profit
b. Less governmental management of economies
(China, Eastern Europe, Soviet Union)
1. Is support for marketization an outcome of
socialization?
2. Is socialization a global phenomena or is it purely
domestic?)
C.

Conclusion: political culture and socialization are dynamic; not

static phenomen