Chapter Four American Political Culture

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 2 What is Culture? It’s different than this kind of “culture.”

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 3 How should we think about Political Culture? Political Culture????

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 4 How to think about Political Culture: Big Comfortable Couch On it (in it?) sit The Constitution, Federalism, Elections, etc.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 5 What are the components of POLITICAL culture? Symbols Language Values and Beliefs Norms

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 6 Who wrote about Political Culture?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 7 Alexis de Tocqueville Political culture A.Alexis de Tocqueville on why democracy could take root in the U.S. –1.No feudal aristocracy; minimal taxes; few legal restraints –2.Westward movement; vast territory provided opportunities –3.Nation of small, independent farmers –4.“Moral and intellectual characteristics”— today called “political culture”

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 8 de Tocqueville

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 9 Definition coming up…

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 10 Political Culture Political Culture: A distinctive and patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out For example, Americans generally believe more strongly in political than in economic equality

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 11 What are some of the unique parts of the American Political Culture?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 12 American Political Values Liberty – rights Equality – equal vote; equal chance to participate and succeed Democracy – government is accountable to the people Civic duty – take community affairs seriously and become involved when possible Individual responsibility – individuals responsible for their own actions and well-being

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 13 Questions About Political Culture How do we know people share these beliefs? How do we explain behavior inconsistent with these beliefs? Why is there so much political conflict in U.S. history?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 14 Where do these values come from? What is the source?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 15 Sources of Political Culture American Revolution was essentially over liberty—asserting rights Widespread (not universal) participation permitted by Constitution Absence of an established national religion made religious diversity inevitable Family instills how we think about world and politics Not a high degree of class consciousness

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 16 Review some basic economic values in the American Political Culture:

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 17 Beliefs About Economics Americans support free enterprise, but support some limits on marketplace freedom Americans believe in equality of opportunity, but not equality of result Americans have a widely shared commitment to economic individualism

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 18 If we add those economic ideas to the general ideas Americans have about the political culture, we can effectively compare the United States political culture to that of other countries…

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 19 American Political Culture Americans tend to assert their rights Emphasize individualism, competition, equality, following rules, treating others fairly but impersonally Some other countries put more emphasis on harmony and equality

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 20 Table 4.3: Attitudes Toward Economic Equality in America and Europe

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 21 What role does religion play in American Political Culture?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 22 Religion and Politics Religious beliefs have played an important role in American politics Both liberals and conservatives use the pulpit to promote political change Candidates for national office in most other contemporary democracies rarely mention religion; drastically different in the U.S.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 23 The Culture War The cultural clash in America is a battle over values The culture war differs from other political disputes The culture conflict is animated by deep differences in people’s beliefs about morality

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 24 Two Cultural “Camps” Orthodox: morality is as important, or more, important than self-expression; morality derives from fixed rules from God Progressive: personal freedom is as important, or more, important than tradition; rules change based on circumstances of modern life and individual preferences

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 25 Differences with other political disputes: Money is not at stake Compromises are almost impossible to arrange The conflict is more profound than other issues What are some of the issues?

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Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 28 So What? arrests protests bombings shootings firings court cases campaign issues

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 29 How Important Is the Culture War? On Government and Politics: Does it have an impact? Should it have an impact? Does it have the wrong impact or the right impact?

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Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 31 Mistrust of Government There is evidence that mistrust has increased since the late 1950s Causes: Watergate, the Vietnam War and Clinton impeachment (in the 70’s-80’s trust was lower than in the 50’s, but closer to the historical norm) Public confidence is likely to ebb and flow with circumstances (public confidence in political institutions has gone down while confidence in other institutions has remained unchanged or declined)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 32 Figure 4.1: Trust in the Federal Government, University of Michigan, The National Election Studies.

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Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 34 Civic Duty and Competence Civic duty: a belief that one has an obligation to participate in civic and political affairs

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 35 Political Efficacy Political efficacy: citizen’s capacity to understand and influence political events –Internal efficacy: confidence in one’s ability to understand and influence events –External efficacy: belief that system will respond to citizens

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 36 Figure 4.3: Changes in the Sense of Political Efficacy, University of Michigan, The National Election Studies.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 37 Political Efficacy Do you believe you have the capacity to understand and influence political events? What are you doing about it? What are you doing on Thursdays? Political Science Club meets Thursdays…

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Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 39 Political Tolerance A minimal level of tolerance is crucial to democratic politics Most Americans support tolerance in the abstract Most Americans would deny these rights in specific cases

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 40 How Very Unpopular Groups Survive Most people do not act on their beliefs Officeholders and activists are more tolerant than the general public Usually there is no consensus on whom to persecute Courts are sufficiently insulated from public opinion to enforce constitutional protections

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4 | 41 Time for a TEST !!!