Chapter 5- Lecture Flashcards
What is culture?
- language
- customs and manners
- dress
- ritual
- religion
What does Seymour Lipset say political culture is?
It is the general political values, attitudes, and beliefs that are widely held within the political community.
What is the textbook definition of political culture?
the fundament political values, beliefs, and orientations that are widely held within a political community.
Why is culture an interest to those who study human social and political life?
because culture is collective, a human creation, and inherited
In what ways does socialization disseminate political culture?
- family
- the state
- government
- education
- military
In what three ways can the study of culture be significant to the study of politics?
1) culture as difference
2) culture as power
3) culture and principles of democracy
Why is culture as difference significant to the study of politics?
culture may help to describe and explain differences between states
-it is an important basis for comparative analysis
Why is culture as power significant to the study of politics?
Culture has been used to explain why some groups hold power and how and why subordinate groups do not challenge those in power.
“To control a people’s culture is to control their tools of self definition in relationship to others. Economic and political control can never be complete or effective without mental control”
-James Ngugi
What does he mean? (hint, has to do with origin stories).
- The nation as a concept
- A lot of that story is selective, exclusive
- All nations have an origin story that is based on power as the political culture we adopt has come from the dominant group of people
What do Marxists believe in terms of cultural hegemony?
"According to Marxists and some elements with contemporary feminism, the values and beliefs of the dominant class or of males, respectively, are developed as normal and inevitable by society as a whole, despite the fact that they are contrary to the true interests of the subordinate class." -Stephen Brooks
How is culture and principles of democracy significant to the study of politics? Example?
The study of culture is significant to the study of politics, especially as it pertains to larger normative questions that frame the principles of democracy such as, for example, justice.
Ex. Its it enough to say that equality is achieved when all the laws in a country treat everyone the same?
In summary, why is culture highly relevant to the study of politics?
Because it pertains to 1) differences between countries, 2) relations or power, and challenges the status quo and 3) questions that pertain to democratic principles such as equality.
What do we use ideological perspectives and fundamental politically relevant values to describe?
the political culture of a political community
What is the political culture of the US described as?
Classical liberalism
What ideology is a component of the political culture of the Scandinavian countries?
Social democratic ideology
What are macro theories (sources of political culture)? Ex?
From this perspective, political culture is about culture from the motherland. Focus on the elite, macro theories give us the big picture.
-Fragment theory
Who developed fragment theory?
Louis Hartz
What is fragment theory
the theory that ties together European political culture and how it was selectively transferred to countries that were colonized by euro settlers
How does Hartz suggest that conservatism and liberalism emerged?
As competing sets of political ideas in Europe (the backdrop from feudalism/capitalism) and leads to socialism
European society embraces a___political culture that includes socialism, conservatism, and liberalism as a result.
pluralistic
What happened to countries colonized by European settlers according the Hartz? In his view, the US and Canada are basically liberal___where such values as individual freedom are predominant?
- only the leading part of the mother country’s political culture was carried to new lands
- fragments
What does fragment theory ignore?
previous culture