American Political Culture Chapter 4 American Political Culture

Alexis de Tocqueville French Why democratic republic took root in USA and not in other countries that copied our constitution Because the United States offered more abundant and fertile soil in which roots could grow The vast territory of the United States created innumerable opportunities for people to acquire land and make a living Must also take into account the customs of the people – Political Culture

Political Culture A distinctive and patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out

POLITICAL SYSTEM

OUR view of the Political System Liberty: rights Equality: vote and participation and success Democracy: Gov officials accountable to the people Civic Duty: seriousness of community affairs Individual Responsibility: responsible for own action and well-being

ECONOMIC SYSTEM

Economic Individualism Vast majorities of Americans believe that every citizen should have an equal chance to influence government policy and to hold public office “Equality of Opportunity” NOT “Equality of Results”

American Political Culture Three Questions About Political Culture How do we Know that American People share beliefs? Opinion Polls: supply useful evidence If values are important to Americans, how can we explain the existence in our society of behavior that is obviously inconsistent with them? – Race Relations If there is agreement among Americans on certain political values, why has there been so much political conflict in our history? – Civil War

American Political Culture Americanism: evidence that Americans believe themselves bound by common values and common hopes

American Political Culture The Economic System: (79-80) As it is in American politics, liberty is important in the U.S. economy. Americans support the idea of a free-enterprise system, calling the nation’s economy “generally fair and efficient” and denying that it “survives by keeping the poor down.” However, there are limits to how much freedom they think should exist in the market place. People support government regulation of business in order to keep some firms from becoming too powerful and to correct specific abuses

American Political Culture The Economic System (79-80) Americans are willing to support education and training programs to help disadvantaged people get ahead but are strongly against preferential treatment (for example, hiring quotas) The leaders of very liberal political groups, such as civil rights and feminist organizations, are more willing than the average American to support preferential treatment in the hiring and promoting of minorities and women – Affirmative Action Polls show that Americans are willing to help people “truly in need” but not those deemed “able to take care of themselves. Overall, Americans dislike preferential hiring programs and the use of quotas to deal with racial inequality

American Political Culture The Economic System (79-80) In America the INDIVIDUALIST VIEW of social policy is by far the most popular – DO IT ON YOUR OWN In 1924 almost half of the high school students in Muncie, Indiana, said that “it is entirely the fault of man himself if he cannot succeed” and disagreed with the view that differences in wealth showed that the system was unjust. Over half a century later, the students in the same high school were asked the same question again, with the same results

America v. Other Nations

Political System Americans have stronger sense of Civic Duty and Civic Competence Table 4.1 (p81)

Political System In 1959-1960 Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba published a study of political culture in FIVE nations In general they found that Americans, and to a lesser degree citizens of Great Britain, had a stronger sense of civic duty – a belief that one has an obligation to participate in civic and political affairs and a stronger sense of civic competence – a belief that one can affect government policies than did the citizens of Germany, Italy, or Mexico. Today, the American people have less trust in government than they once did. But even so, popular confidence in political institutions remains higher here than in many places abroad

ECONOMIC SYSTEM AMERICA = Equality of Opportunity not Equality of Results Table 4.2 (p82) Table 4.3 (p82)

CIVIC ROLE OF RELIGION America is highly religious Both “civically” and “spiritually” CIVICLY = major source of volunteer and community services (faith-based approaches to solving social ills) TABLES 4.4 & 4.5 (p83)

SOURCES OF POLITICAL CULTURE

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) American Revolution: Liberty American Revolution have given to American political thought and culture a preoccupation with the assertion and maintenance of rights American political culture reflects not only our preoccupation with rights but also our long-standing distrust of authority and of people wielding power

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Constitution, by creating a federal system and dividing political authority among competing institutions, provided ample opportunity for wide-spread- though hardly universal – participation in politics

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) Religious Diversity: The conflict between the Puritan tradition, with its emphasis on faith and hard work, and the Catholic Church, with its devotion to the sacraments and priestly authority, provided a recurrent source of cleavage in American Public life. The differences in values between these two groups showed up not only in their religious practices but also in areas involving the regulation of manners and morals, and even in people’s choice of political party Max Weber explained the rise of capitalism in part by what he called the Protestant ethic – what we now sometimes call the work ethic

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) Religious Diversity: Churches offered ready opportunities for developing and practicing civic and political skills Developing a participatory political culture was undoubtedly made easier by the existence of a participatory religious culture

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Family: 85-86 All aspects of culture, including the political, are preserved and transmitted to new generations primarily through the family They way we think about the world are largely acquired through the family The family is the primary source of one kind of political attitude – identification with one or another political party The family shapes in subtle ways how we think and act on political matters

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The combined effect of religious and ethnic diversity, and individualistic philosophy, fragmented political authority, and relatively egalitarian American family can be seen in the absence of a high degree of class consciousness among Americans Class Consciousness means thinking of oneself as a worker whose interests are in opposition of those of management, or vice versa In this country most people, whatever their jobs, think of themselves as “MIDDLE CLASS” Americans believe success is available to people who work hard

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Culture War: 86-87 For many years, the most explosive political issues have included abortion, gay rights, drug use, school prayer, and pornography. Instead of two economic classes engaged in a bitter struggle over wealth, we have two cultural classes locked in a war over values

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Culture War: 86-87 The culture war differs from other political disputes (over such matters as taxes, business regulations, and foreign policy) in several ways: money is not at stake, compromises are almost impossible to arrange, and conflict is more profound

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Culture War: 86-87 It is animated by deep differences in people’s beliefs about private and public morality – that is, about the standards that ought to govern individual behavior and social arrangements. It is about what kinds of policies our government ought to adopt. To simplify these two camps, the Orthodox and the Progressive On the Orthodox side are people who believe that morality is as important as, or more important than, self-expression and that moral rules derive from the commands of God or the laws of nature – commands the laws that are relatively clear, unchanging, and independent of individual preferences On the Progressive side are people who think that personal freedom is as important as, or more important than, certain traditional moral rules and that those rules must be evaluated in light of the circumstances of modern life – circumstances that are quite complex, changeable, and dependent on individual preferences

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Culture War: 86-87 Most conspicuous among the orthodox are fundamentalist Protestants and evangelical Christians, and so critics who dislike orthodox view often dismiss them as the fanatical expressions of “the Religious Right.” But many people who hold orthodox views are not fanatical or deeply religious or right-wing on most issues; they simply have strong views about drugs, pornography, and sexual morality.

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Culture War: 86-87 Similarly, the progressive side often includes members of liberal Protestant denominations (for example, Episcopalians and Unitarians) and people with no strong religious beliefs, and so their critics often denounce them as immoral, anti-Christian radical show embraced the ideology of secular humanism, the belief that moral standards do not require religious justification. But in all likelihood few progressives immoral or anti-Christian, and most do not regard secular humanism as their defining ideology

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Culture War: 86-87 Moreover, the culture war is occurring not just between different religions but also within them

American Political Culture The Sources of Political Culture: (84-87) The Culture War: 86-87 Two major changes in American society Is the great increase in proportion of people who consider themselves progressive. Once almost everyone was religiously orthodox, even if politically liberal; today fewer are The rise of media that make it easy to wage a cultural war on a large scale

MISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT

MISTRUST Since 1950’s a more or less steady decline in trust of Washington to do right thing Figure 4.1 Page 89 Don’t trust Gov. officials not the system

Why Mistrust Officials 1960s Vietnam 1970s Nixon (Watergate) 1990s Clinton almost impeached by House of Representatives

Highest level in many years in trust in Washington Officials Patriotic Fever September 11, 2001 Highest level in many years in trust in Washington Officials

Political Efficacy Extent to which citizens feel that the political system will respond to their needs A belief that you can take part in politics (internal efficacy) or that the government will respond to the citizenry (external efficacy) Since mid-1960s sharp drop in sense of external efficacy

POLITICAL TOLERANCE Political Tolerance is that which you will tolerate even though you disagree Political Tolerance is on the Rise Figure 4.4