1. Citizen attitudes and orientations and their impact
Political Culture
Citizen attitudes and orientations and their impact

2. 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…..

3. 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

4. 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

5. Sources of political culture:
Family
Media
Friends
Schools
Economy
Affiliations,
Memberships
Polity
Region,
Country
Global society

6. 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

7. Different views: Political culture Society Experience with
political system
Political Culture

8. 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?
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?