5. Political culture Flashcards
where does political culture fit in long-term, intermediate, short-term explanations
- it could be classified as both long-term and intermediate
- it changes, but not very often
- the opinions we form based on our culture change quickly, so those are more intermediate
what is political culture
- the cultural values that are relevant for understanding political attitudes and behaviour
- so values shape the way we think about politics and the way we engage in politics
- cultural values –> political attitudes –> political behaviour
examples: values relating to equality, preferences for authority patterns
what is the difference between cultural values and political attitudes?
- political attitudes can change more often than cultural values
- cultural values are values we learn in the family/environment growing up, through socialisation
we think cultural values are more stable
congruence theory
- political regimes only stabilise if their authority patterns match a population’s authority beliefs.
- what the population finds legitimate is key in stabilising regimes.
- political culture underpins democracy, if culture does not match institutions, the result is instability.
this means that authoritarian regimes can be supported by citizens, but data cannot always be reliable
problems with congruence theory
- in the case of authoritarian regimes, they could be supported, but it could also be stable because of a strong army/oppression.
- cultural values change slowly overtime, so regime change also should but it doesn’t
- cultural values are different for everyone
- the causality can also run the other way: institutions can socialise citizens instead of the socialisation of citizens leading to certain institutions
- with this theory you end up blaming citizens for the way their regime is
modernisation theory in political culture
and why it leads to democracy
- rising levels of wealth, education, urbanisation generate increasingly assertive citizens that demand democracy
- it facilitates democracy because it increases citizens’ resources for collective action: material means, intellectual skills, connective opportunities
- it facilitates democracy because it changes cultural values
how does modernisation change cultural values
- as we get more wealthy we get more post-materialist values
- the conditions you grow up in as a child shape your values
- depends on economic and physical security
- however, as the old materialists die out, society should be getting more postmaterialist. empirical results now show that the younger generations aren’t way more postmaterialistic.
inglehart theory of value change
post-materialist value example: equality, human rights, environmentalism, more assertive towards authority, self-expression, more say in politics
emancipatory theory of democratisation
adaptation theory of value change by Inglehart and Welzel
- inglehart and welzel specify value change theory, saying modernisation leads to emancipatory values
- emancipatory values are personal autonomy, gender equality, reproductive choice, popular voice.
- they claim these are universal values that support democratisation, and that these will develop as countries experience modernisation
- there is an idea of supply and demand with these emancipatory values
supply and demand with emancipatory values
emancipatory theory of democratisation
- elite supply of democratic freedoms = civil entitlements (the degree to which these freedoms are supplied)
- mass demands for democratic freedoms = emancipatory values
- match supply-demand = stability
- over-supply = autocratic transition
- over-demand = democratic transition
critique on emancipatory theory of democratisation
- institutions could influence values instead of values influencing institutions
- why would you measure support for democracy through emancipatory values when you can just ask people if they support democracy –> measuring progressive cultural values which would mean conservatives can’t support democracy which is empirically not true.
democratic ambivalence
argument for looking at political attitudes directly
instead of post-material values or emancipative values
- look at support for democracy and authoritarianism
- why? because people can support both
- maybe they don’t really have an idea of what democracy means
- this is called democratic ambivalence
political culture and religion
huntington
- says that christian countries have an easier time democratising than muslim ones
- muslims are more traditional and have a harder time accepting emancipatory values
- some religions have more traditional values, and traditional values support hierarchy, which is bad for democratisation
problems with huntington theory political culture and religion
- traditional values can still be democratic
- does the same difference between muslim and christian countries exist if you would remove the resource curse
- there are democratic muslim countries
