2 Political Culture Flashcards
political culture
how a place leans on the spectrum
macro-political culture
the US, as a whole, has a political culture
micro-political culture
states themselves have distinct political cultures
basic ideals that apply in both red and blue states
- freedom
- democracy
freedom
when given a choice between order and freedom, Americans lean towards the latter
line theory
in a context where Canadians are totally free, they line up out of choice, whereas Americans do so out of obligation; this applies to politics and social movements
democracy
a voting mechanism for more trivial matters is more likely to be employed in the US than in Canada; more sensationalized and serious about democracy; different ways to defend democracy and freedom
blue states
coastal states tend to be Democratic
red states
the Midwest and South tend to be Republican
purple states
states that swing between the two parties and decide the election
problems with the red vs blue narrative
- the nature of the electoral college
- the perception of polarization being driven by social media and ‘bowling alone’
nature of the electoral college
- to win the states, you need to win by 1 vote, so the state becomes ‘red’ or ‘blue’ no matter how big/small the gap is
- this generates a map of the electoral college that inaccurately depicts monocultures within states
‘bowling alone’
the breakdown of areas where ppl can interact with strangers
polarization as driven by social media and ‘bowling alone’
- diminished opportunities to meet ppl whose political orientation don’t matter have increased polarization
- having conversations cools polarization by humanizing both sides
origins/theories of political culture
- Fragment Theory
- Formative Events Theory
- Frontier Thesis
- Marxist Interpretations
Fragment Theory
- first colonists are the basis of political culture
- argues that the colony (fragment) is not a copy of the colonizer country (metropole)
- colonies have a different demographic than the metropole
- the 13 Colonies (founded by small groups) then developed a political culture unique to each colony
- the fragment is comprised of diff ppl groups that contribute to the development of a distinct culture
- helps explain why (1) the US values change and progress and (2) regional differences as founding fragments in diff areas formulating diff cultures
Formative Events Theory
- argues that a political culture is created by a key historical event and defined further by several events
- the defining event is the American Revolution, which painted change and violence as positive, so it was more acceptable for violence to be used for progress
- the Civil War reinforced the notion of freedom, which also accounts for the North/South division
Frontier Thesis
- argues that American political culture is and was created by the presence of a frontier
- the frontier embedded itself into the culture, being highly individualist, having limited laws, and where ppl preceded gov’t and emphasized freedom
frontier
a place that exists at the edge of civilization, particularly during a period of expansion
Marxist interpretation
- the imposition of the capitalist system, which perpetuates itself, marks the origin of American political cultures
- argues that all countries who adopted capitalism are oppressed and that political cultures are made to have ppl believe in free will
- the differences in political culture are irrelevant, as the basis is the same across them (i.e., built on the corruption of capitalism)
internalized oppression
you don’t realize you’re being oppressed
