1. Defining the American Political Culture
Ideologies and Linkage to Government
Other elements of our political culture are learned in the family or from peers. Many important elements of our political culture are widely shared by Americans, others are evolving, and some are no longer widely shared.
We can discover the specifics of a nation’s political culture not only by studying what its people believe and say but also by serving how they behave.
That behavior includes such fundamental decisions as who may participate in political decisions, what rights and liberties citizens have, how political decisions are made, and what people think about politicians and government generally.
Some elements of our political culture—such as our fear of concentrated power and our reverence for individual liberty—have remained constant over time. However, as discussed in the introduction, our ideas about suffrage, the right to vote, have changed from a belief that only property-owning white men should be allowed to vote to a conviction that all adults, excluding felons in some states, should have the right.
The idea of people coming together listening to each other, exchanging ideas, learning to appreciate each other’s differences, and defending their opinions is sometimes called deliberation and builds what has been called social capital.
American political culture centers on democratic values such as liberty, equality, individualism, justice, the rule of law, patriotism, optimism, and idealism.

2. Defining the American Political Culture
Many American citizens’ first experience with democracy is a school election, sometimes as early as in elementary school.
Political scientists use the term political culture to refer to the widely shared beliefs, values, and norms citizens hold about their relationship to government and to one another.
American political culture centers on democratic values.
Other elements of our political culture are learned in the family or from peers. Many important elements of our political culture are widely shared by Americans, others are evolving, and some are no longer widely shared.
We can discover the specifics of a nation’s political culture not only by studying what its people believe and say but also by serving how they behave.
That behavior includes such fundamental decisions as who may participate in political decisions, what rights and liberties citizens have, how political decisions are made, and what people think about politicians and government generally.
Some elements of our political culture—such as our fear of concentrated power and our reverence for individual liberty—have remained constant over time. However, as discussed in the introduction, our ideas about suffrage, the right to vote, have changed from a belief that only property-owning white men should be allowed to vote to a conviction that all adults, excluding felons in some states, should have the right.
The idea of people coming together listening to each other, exchanging ideas, learning to appreciate each other’s differences, and defending their opinions is sometimes called deliberation and builds what has been called social capital.
American political culture centers on democratic values such as liberty, equality, individualism, justice, the rule of law, patriotism, optimism, and idealism.

3. The American Political Culture
Shared Values
Liberty
Equality
Individualism
Respect for the Common Person
Democratic Consensus
Justice and the Rule of Law
Nationalism, Optimism, and Idealism
Americans have a long standing commitment to:
Liberty: "We have always been a nation obsessed with liberty. Liberty over authority, freedom over responsibility, rights over duties—these are our historic preferences,” wrote the late Clinton Rossiter, a noted political scientist.
Equality: American citizens also believe in political equality, the idea that every individual has a right to equal protection under the law and equal voting power.
Individualism: The United States is characterized by a persistent commitment to the individual, who has both rights and responsibilities.
Reverence for the common people helps explain our ambivalence toward power, politics, and government authority.
Democratic Consensus: Despite our differences, our political culture includes a democratic consensus, a set of widely shared attitudes and beliefs about government and its values, procedures, documents, and institutions
Justice and the Rule of Law requires following these five rules: 1) Generality: Laws should be stated generally and not single out any group or individual. 2) Prospectivity: Laws should apply to the present and the future, not punish something someone did in the past. 3) Publicity: Laws cannot be kept secret and then enforced. 4) Authority: Valid laws are made by those with legitimate power which is legitimized by popular consent. 4) Due process: Laws must be enforced impartially with fair processes.

4. The American Political Culture (continue)
The American Dream – a set of ideas holding that the U.S. is a land of opportunity and that individual initiative and hard work bring economic success
Political and Economic Change – political values are affected by historic and economic developments:
The Industrial Transformation
Development of large corporations
The Great Depression & the New Deal
The Global economy
Historical developments and economic and technological growth affect political values.
By 1900, industrial capitalism and the growth of corporations had largely replaced the agrarian society of small farmers and plantations that the framers had known.
The success of the American economy led to the concentration of great wealth in the hands of a few—the “robber barons” or tycoons.
People with more economic resources can invest time, energy, and money in political campaigns, parties, and candidates.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2010 in a court case to allow corporations to spend their general funds, including profits as independent expenditures in federal elections.
The Great Depression of the 1930s and the near collapse of the capitalistic system that followed it shaped much of our thinking about the role of government in a capitalistic system.
Beginning with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s, most people came to accept that governments, at both the national and state levels, should use their powers and resources to ensure some measure of equal opportunity and social justice.
Most people today support a semi-regulated or mixed free enterprise system that checks the worst tendencies of capitalism, but they reject excessive government intervention.

5. Political Socialization
The way people acquire their political values.
Family members.
School and peers.
Media, especially television.
Religion.
Demographics: race, ethnicity, gender, age, and region.
Outside events.
Families are the most important reference group, with parents and siblings orienting each other to politics, the media, and the community.
Public schools are another source of the American political culture. Children and teachers often begin the school day by saluting the flag, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, or singing the national anthem. Colleges and universities also help foster the American political culture. Students who attend college are often more confident than others in dealing with bureaucracy and politics.
American churches, synagogues, and mosques have long fostered a common understanding of right and wrong and of freedom.

6. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
Liberalism
Contemporary Liberals
Favor individual rights, rights to own private property
Willing to have government intervention in the economy
Advocate equal access to social services & protections
Support Affirmative Action & equality of opportunity
Prefer tax rates that rise with income

7. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
Criticisms of Liberalism
Rely too much on government solutions
Rely too much on higher taxes
Rely too much on bureaucracy
Undermine individual initiative, entrepreneurial spirit, self reliance, self help ethics the U.S. was founded on
Critics state that liberals rely too much on government, higher taxes, and bureaucracy to solve the nation’s problems. They believe that too much dependence on the government will prevent individuals from becoming self-reliant. They argue that liberals have forgotten that government has to be limited if it is to serve our best interests. Power tends to corrupt, and too much dependence on government can corrupt the spirit, undermine self-reliance, and make people forget those cherished personal freedoms and property rights our republic was founded to secure and protect.

8. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatives
Emphatically pro-business
Against taxes
Oppose most trade, antitrust, and environmental regulations
Dispersed government power
Limited government services
Traditional Conservatives: emphatically pro-business, opposed the New Deal programs of the 1930s, the War on Poverty in the 1960s, many civil rights and affirmative action programs. Conservatives, especially those in office, do, however, selectively advocate government activism.

9. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
Social Conservatives (New Right)
Less focused on economics
More focused on morality and lifestyle
Favor strong government action in
Protection of children from drugs & pornography
Limiting abortions
Defending freedom and American interests abroad
Social Conservatives: Some conservatives focus less on economics and more on morality and lifestyle. They favor strong governmental action to protect children from pornography and drugs. They want to overturn or repeal judicial rulings and laws that permit abortion, same-sex marriage, and affirmative action programs. A defining characteristic of the New Right is a strong desire to impose social controls. Conservatives for decades have emphasized differences with liberals on social and moral matters.

10. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
Criticism of Conservatives
Don’t want big government unless it serves its needs or to counter social evils
Places too much faith on market economy
Tax cuts for the rich at the expense of bigger deficits for defense spending
Fail to endorse policies against racism and sexism
Critics point out that conservatives themselves urge more government when it serves their needs—to regulate pornography and abortion, for example—but are opposed to government when it serves somebody else.
Conservative focus on deregulation has not always had positive results, as the collapse of financial markets in 2008 suggests.
Liberals cite conservative opposition to civil rights laws in the 1960s and more recently to affirmative action. They also blame conservatives for trying to weaken the enforcement of these laws by the executive branch and the courts.

11. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
Environmentalism
On social issues the so-called Green movement is similar to liberal
Favor grassroots democracy
Favor social justice, feminism
Support equal opportunity, nonviolence, & respect for diversity
Emphasize the ecology & the environment

12. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
American Socialism
Favor economic & governmental systems based on public ownership
Prefer expanded role of government
Favor nationalization of certain industries
Support public programs
Support taxing the rich & reducing defense spending
Socialism: The nineteenth century German philosopher Karl Marx once described socialism as a midway point between capitalism and communism. In a capitalist system, the means of production and most property are privately owned.
Communism: A political system in which the state owns property in common for all the people, and a single political party that represents the working classes controls the government.
In communist countries such as Cuba and China, the Communist party is unchallenged. In the early 1990s, communism failed in Russia, its sister republics, and its former eastern European satellites. As a result of that failure, they have been attempting to establish free markets.
American Communism: A political, social, & economic system in which land & capital are collectively owned & political power is exercised by the masses.

13. Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government
Libertarianism
Cherish individual liberties
Favor sharp government limitations
Limit defense to national defense only and all government regulations
Oppose all public programs
Favor extensive government spending cuts
Support elimination of FBI, CIA, regulatory commissions
Oppose participation in international bodies, i.e. United Nations
Resemble anarchism to some extent
Libertarians: Favor severely curbed role for government in domestic and foreign affairs, massive cuts in government spending, an end to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and most regulatory commissions. They oppose American participation in the United Nations and favor armed forces that would defend the United States only if directly attacked.
Oppose all government programs and regulation, including, for example, mandatory seat-belt and helmet laws, in part because they believe individuals will all benefit more from an undistorted free market, and more generally because they embrace the attitude “live and let live.”
Unlike conservatives, libertarians would repeal laws that regulate personal morality, including abortion, pornography, prostitution, and illicit drugs. A Libertarian party candidate for president has been on the ballot in all 50 states.

14. Differences in Political Ideology
Conservative
Moderate
Liberal
Undecided
Sex
Male
Female
39% 31
23% 24
20% 22
18% 23
Race
White
Black
Asian
Hispanic 39 18 24 21 21 22 17 39
This table displays how ideology is correlated to sex, race, age, religion, education, and political party. In which factors do you see the strongest and weakest correlations, and how might you account for that? 20 26 36 18 22 25 20 32
SOURCE: Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan, 2008, American National Election Study Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior.

15. Differences in Political Ideology
Conservative
Moderate
Liberal
Undecided
Age
18-34
35-45
46-55
56-64
26% 36 37 38 45
24% 26 23 21 18
28% 16 17 26
23% 20 15
This table displays how ideology is correlated to sex, race, age, religion, education, and political party. In which factors do you see the strongest and weakest correlations, and how might you account for that?
Religion
Protestant
SOURCE: Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan, 2008, American National Election Study Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior.

16. Differences in Political Ideology
Conservative
Moderate
Liberal
Undecided
Religion
Catholic
Jewish
31% 26 25 29 38
28% 12 20 27 25 18 63 14 11 22
23% 42 33 15
Education
This table displays how ideology is correlated to sex, race, age, religion, education, and political party. In which factors do you see the strongest and weakest correlations, and how might you account for that?
Less than high school
High school diploma
Some college
SOURCE: Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan, 2008, American National Election Study Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior.

17. Differences in Political Ideology
Conservative
Moderate
Liberal
Undecided
Education
Bachelor’s degree
Advanced degree
42% 45 13 14
21% 14 27 35
32% 39 37 11 5% 3
Party
This table displays how ideology is correlated to sex, race, age, religion, education, and political party. In which factors do you see the strongest and weakest correlations, and how might you account for that?
Democrat
Independent 23 40 70 15 5 11
Republican
SOURCE: Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan, 2008, American National Election Study Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior.

18. Political Ideology &the American People
Ideology has economic, social/lifestyle, environmental, civil rights/civil liberties, and foreign/defense policy dimensions.
In the United States, most people are moderates or report not knowing whether they are liberal or conservative.
The absence of widespread and solidified liberal and conservative positions in the United States makes for politics and policymaking processes that are markedly different from those in most nations.
For some people, ideological controversy today centers on the role of the government in improving schools, encouraging a stronger work ethic, and stopping the flow of drugs into the country.
For others, ideology focuses on whether to permit openly gay people into the military or sanction same-sex marriages and on the best ways to instill moral values, build character, and encourage cohesive and lasting families.
Despite the twists and turns of American politics, the distribution of ideology in the nation has been remarkably consistent.
Moreover, in the United States, most people are moderates or report not knowing whether they are liberal or conservative.
Both major parties target moderate or centrist voters. The degree to which people have ideologically consistent attitudes and opinions varies but is often relatively low.
Policy making in this country is characterized more by ad hoc coalitions than by fixed alignments that pit one set of ideologies against another.
Ideologies have consequences. These sharp cleavages in political thinking stir opposing interest groups into action.

19. Political Ideology &the American People
Policy making in this country is characterized more by ad hoc coalitions than by fixed alignments that pit one set of ideologies against another.
This does not mean that policies or ideas are not important in American politics.
Ideologies have consequences.
Although ideology plays an important role in Congress and in elections, the large proportion of people who are moderate and/or non-ideological permits politicians to expand their base with pragmatic appeals and to form coalitions.

20. Linkage Institutions
In the modern United States, four types of groups, known as "LINKAGE" INSTITUTIONS, play a vital role in connecting citizens to the government. They are not officially a part of the government, but without them, a democracy would be very difficult to maintain. These groups in American politics include the following:
Although ideology plays an important role in Congress and in elections, the large proportion of people who are moderate and/or non-ideological permits politicians to expand their base with pragmatic appeals and to form coalitions.

21. Political Ideology &the American People
POLITICAL PARTIES represent broad points of view — or IDEOLOGIES — that present people with alternative approaches to how the government should be run. Parties seek political power by electing people to office so that its positions and philosophy become public policy.
Although ideology plays an important role in Congress and in elections, the large proportion of people who are moderate and/or non-ideological permits politicians to expand their base with pragmatic appeals and to form coalitions.

22. Linkage Institutions CAMPAIGNS and elections involve
citizens by reminding them of their ultimate
power — the vote.
Campaigns today are increasingly elaborate
and long, costing millions of dollars, and
attracting the public's attention in any way
they can.
Linkage Institutions
Although ideology plays an important role in Congress and in elections, the large proportion of people who are moderate and/or non-ideological permits politicians to expand their base with pragmatic appeals and to form coalitions.

23. Linkage Institutions common interests and attitudes to influence
INTEREST GROUPS organize people with
common interests and attitudes to influence
government to support their points of view.
They generally represent only one issue or a
closely related set of concerns. So, people can
organize according to their profession, business,
corporation, or hobby — yet another way to
"link" to government.
Linkage Institutions
Although ideology plays an important role in Congress and in elections, the large proportion of people who are moderate and/or non-ideological permits politicians to expand their base with pragmatic appeals and to form coalitions.

24. Linkage Institutions The MEDIA play an important role
in connecting people to government.
Most of us find out about candidates
for office, public officials' activities,
and the burning issues of the day
through television, newspapers, radio,
and the Internet. The media's power to
shape the American mind has often been
criticized, but it also allows people to give
feedback to the government.
Although ideology plays an important role in Congress and in elections, the large proportion of people who are moderate and/or non-ideological permits politicians to expand their base with pragmatic appeals and to form coalitions.