CHAPTER 9 – POLITICAL CULTURE AND THE MEDIA
- Much of politics takes place in our heads
- Media have impact (good or ill) on democracy
POLITICAL CULTURE
- Values and beliefs play vital role in promoting the stability and survival of a regime
- Almond and Verba – The Civic Culture
o Observing democracy in 5 countries – UK, US, West Germany, Italy and
Mexico
- Eastern Europe being able to build democracy on the ashes of communism
- Culture war → a political battle over values and lifestyles usually reflecting the
tension between social conservatism (traditionalism) and social liberalism
(progressivism)
- Political culture → the way of life of a people, pattern of orientations
Approaches to political culture
The civic-culture approach
- Writings of Almond and Verba – political culture is most effectively upheld in
democratic politics
- Civic culture → a set of specific attitudes which are crucial to the success of modern
democracies
- 3 general types of political culture
o 1. Participant – citizens pay close attention to politics, regard participation
both desirable and effective
o 2. Subject – more passive, people think they have very limited ability to
influence government
o 3. Parochial – absence of sense of citizenship, identifying with territory rather
than nation
- Civic culture is a blend of all 3
- UK is the closest to the civic culture → has both participant and subject features
o People can influence the government but also obey authority
- US – not particularly law-abiding
- West Germany and Italy – neither have a strong participant culture
o Germany – subject culture is dominant
o Italy – parochial attitudes are dominant
- Sleeping dogs theory → people not voting means they are generally satisfied, but
does not have to be true
o There can be alienation
o Political values and attitudes shape behaviour not the other way around
o Political culture treated as homogenous
The Marxist approach
- Capitalism as a system of class exploitation
, - 2 theories of culture
o 1. Culture is class-specific
o 2. Emphasis on the degree to which the ideas of the ruling class pervade
society and become the ruling ideas of the age
- The function of ideology is to reconcile subordinate classes to their exploitation and
oppression by propagating myths, delusions and falsehoods
- Hegemony → the ascendancy or domination of one element of a system over others
o In Marxism – the dominance of ruling class
- Bourgeois ideology → Marxist term, denoting ideas and theories that serve the
interests of the bourgeoisie by disguising the contradictions of capitalist society
o Competition is unequal
- Antonio Gramsci – Italian Marxist and social theorist, emphasis on the importance of
the political and intellectual struggle
o The class system is upheld not just by unequal economic and political power
but also by bourgeois hegemony
o Spread of bourgeois values through mass media, churches, movements, trade
unions etc
- The Marxist view of culture as ideological power rests on the distinction between
subjective or felt interests (what people think they want) and objective or real
interests (what people would want if they could make independent and informed
choices)
- Marxist view might do nothing more than describe a tendency found in all societies
for powerful groups to propagate their self-serving ideas
The conservative approach
- Emphasis on tradition and traditional values, passed down for generations
o Thatcher – Victorian values
o John Major – Back to Basics
- Link to family, church and nation, continuity and tradition
- Michael Oakeshott – UK political philosopher, major contributor to the conservative
traditionalism
o There is a general human disposition to favour tradition over innovation and
established over the new
- Neoconservatism – advanced by Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol in the US
- Problem
o It assumes there is authoritative moral system
o Political culture is more diverse – it might be an attempt to impose a moral
system
Political culture in crisis
Decline of social capital?
- Pervasive state control has destroyed or suppressed the social connections and sense
of civic responsibility that are usually present in democratic society
- Much of politics takes place in our heads
- Media have impact (good or ill) on democracy
POLITICAL CULTURE
- Values and beliefs play vital role in promoting the stability and survival of a regime
- Almond and Verba – The Civic Culture
o Observing democracy in 5 countries – UK, US, West Germany, Italy and
Mexico
- Eastern Europe being able to build democracy on the ashes of communism
- Culture war → a political battle over values and lifestyles usually reflecting the
tension between social conservatism (traditionalism) and social liberalism
(progressivism)
- Political culture → the way of life of a people, pattern of orientations
Approaches to political culture
The civic-culture approach
- Writings of Almond and Verba – political culture is most effectively upheld in
democratic politics
- Civic culture → a set of specific attitudes which are crucial to the success of modern
democracies
- 3 general types of political culture
o 1. Participant – citizens pay close attention to politics, regard participation
both desirable and effective
o 2. Subject – more passive, people think they have very limited ability to
influence government
o 3. Parochial – absence of sense of citizenship, identifying with territory rather
than nation
- Civic culture is a blend of all 3
- UK is the closest to the civic culture → has both participant and subject features
o People can influence the government but also obey authority
- US – not particularly law-abiding
- West Germany and Italy – neither have a strong participant culture
o Germany – subject culture is dominant
o Italy – parochial attitudes are dominant
- Sleeping dogs theory → people not voting means they are generally satisfied, but
does not have to be true
o There can be alienation
o Political values and attitudes shape behaviour not the other way around
o Political culture treated as homogenous
The Marxist approach
- Capitalism as a system of class exploitation
, - 2 theories of culture
o 1. Culture is class-specific
o 2. Emphasis on the degree to which the ideas of the ruling class pervade
society and become the ruling ideas of the age
- The function of ideology is to reconcile subordinate classes to their exploitation and
oppression by propagating myths, delusions and falsehoods
- Hegemony → the ascendancy or domination of one element of a system over others
o In Marxism – the dominance of ruling class
- Bourgeois ideology → Marxist term, denoting ideas and theories that serve the
interests of the bourgeoisie by disguising the contradictions of capitalist society
o Competition is unequal
- Antonio Gramsci – Italian Marxist and social theorist, emphasis on the importance of
the political and intellectual struggle
o The class system is upheld not just by unequal economic and political power
but also by bourgeois hegemony
o Spread of bourgeois values through mass media, churches, movements, trade
unions etc
- The Marxist view of culture as ideological power rests on the distinction between
subjective or felt interests (what people think they want) and objective or real
interests (what people would want if they could make independent and informed
choices)
- Marxist view might do nothing more than describe a tendency found in all societies
for powerful groups to propagate their self-serving ideas
The conservative approach
- Emphasis on tradition and traditional values, passed down for generations
o Thatcher – Victorian values
o John Major – Back to Basics
- Link to family, church and nation, continuity and tradition
- Michael Oakeshott – UK political philosopher, major contributor to the conservative
traditionalism
o There is a general human disposition to favour tradition over innovation and
established over the new
- Neoconservatism – advanced by Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol in the US
- Problem
o It assumes there is authoritative moral system
o Political culture is more diverse – it might be an attempt to impose a moral
system
Political culture in crisis
Decline of social capital?
- Pervasive state control has destroyed or suppressed the social connections and sense
of civic responsibility that are usually present in democratic society
