1. Chapter 17: Political culture by Svante Ersson and Jan-Erik Lane Caramani (ed.) Comparative Politics Section IV: Actors and processes

2. Chapter 17: Political culture Introduction (1/1) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion In increasingly multicultural societies, the concept of political culture acquires new scope and relevance. Political culture stands for the basic attitudes of people towards politics, policy and polity. The main dimensions of political cultures are value orientations, religion, and ethnicity.

3. Chapter 17: Political culture The field of political culture (1/1) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion Theorizing political culture goes back to classical political theory (e.g. Montesquieu, Tocqueville). In the 20 th century, the study of political culture was first addressed within democracy theory. The connection of civic culture with concepts of trust and social networks gave rise to theories of social capital. With the integration of “new politics” (e.g. environmentalism, feminism, etc.), the concept of political culture has been broadened.

4. Chapter 17: Political culture Definitions of political culture (1/1) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion Culture as ethnicity or religion often employs historical information, whereas culture as value orientation uses survey data (e.g. World Value Survey). The study of political culture includes both micro-analysis of people’s attitudes and the macro-analysis of country differences. Variation within countries is often larger than between the countries. Methodological challenges for survey data: Converse’s principle Robinson’s principle

5. Chapter 17: Political culture Dimensions of political culture (1/2) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion (1)Value orientations: -Support for political institutions -Interpersonal trust -Post-materialism -Secularization (2)Ethnicity: Fields of research: -Theories of nation -Racism -Multiculturalism The two main dimensions of ethnicity are language and race

6. Chapter 17: Political culture Dimensions of political culture (2/2) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion (3)Religion: Religion impacts politics through: -Cleavages within societies -Cleavages between cultures (religions as civilizations) With the rise of fundamentalism, the relevance of religion to politics has increased (4)Tradition: Cultures inherited from the past may have a great relevance to the presence (collective consciousness) Elazar’s typology: -Moralism (strong civil society) -Individualism -Traditionalism (weak civil society)

7. Chapter 17: Political culture Current issues in political culture theory (1/2) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion Since the early 2000s attention has focused on three topics: (1)Social capital: Aims at explaining democratic and institutional performance Social capital emerged from trust theory Difficult to define social capital empirically, since there are different ways to measure trust: -Direct: Interpersonal trust values -Indirect: Occurrence of free associations

8. Chapter 17: Political culture Current issues in political culture theory (2/2) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion (2)Civilizations: Clash of civilization (Huntington’s thesis)? Integration of Muslim population in Europe Cultural compactness (3)Gender equality and homosexuality: Cultural change fostered post-materialist value Attitudes towards gender equality and acceptance of homosexuality are strongly correlated New political cleavage in post-modern societies

9. Chapter 17: Political culture Conclusion (1/1) Introduction The field of political culture Definitions of political culture Dimensions of political culture Current issues in political culture theory Conclusion The rising salience of political culture reflects the spread of the multi- cultural societies. The cultural approach goes beyond rational choice theory: - Endogenizing of goals and values - Where do our goals (preferences) come from? Not only institutions, but also culture seems to have an influence on politics.