Political Culture

• Political culture: a patterned and sustained way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out

• Shapes what citizens expect from government and what they consider legitimate

• Distinct from political ideology, public opinion and institutions

  • Political culture is the underlying normative environment within which they operate

• Differences among nations

  • Constitutional
  • Demographic
  • Cultural

A Shared Culture

The US is a Creedal Nation

• Creedal nation: national identity defined by shared commitment to a set of political ideals, not by ethnicity, religion, or common ancestry

• What binds Americans together isn’t a common ethnicity or ancestry but agreement on a shared set of political values

  • liberty, equality, democracy, civic duty, and individual responsibility

Five Defining Elements

• Liberty
• Equality
• Democracy
• Civic Duty
• Individual Responsibility

Civic Duty and Civic Competence

• Civic Duty: a belief that one has an obligation to participate in civic and political affairs

• Civic Competence: a belief that one can affect government policies

Liberal Democracy: A Definition

• Liberal democracy: a form of government that combines democratic self-rule with constitutional limits protecting individual rights against the state, and against majorities

• It blends two distinct commitments

  • Democracy — political authority derives from the consent of the governed, exercised through free and fair elections
  • Liberalism — individuals hold claims to liberty that government, and even democratic majorities, cannot legitimately override

Institutions of Liberal Democracy

• Elections contested between distinct political parties

• Separation of powers across branches of government

• Rule of law and an independent judiciary

• Protection of individual rights and civil liberties

• Pluralism — a free press, free association, alternative sources of information

• A market economy — private property and competitive markets as the default system for allocating goods

When Democracy and Liberalism Conflict

• Liberal democracy’s two halves can pull apart

• Tyranny of the majority: democratic majorities may use their power to oppress minorities

• Political ignorance: limited voter information can produce systematic errors in collective choice

• Democratic self-destruction: elections can bring illiberal leaders to power who then dismantle the institutions that elected them

Liberal Democracy and Mediating Institutions

• Liberal democracy depends on mediating institutions between the individual and the state: family, religious congregations, civic associations, interest groups, parties, media

• These institutions produce civic trust, political information, and habits of self-governance

• Their erosion — declining social capital, shrinking civic life — threatens liberal democracy itself

The American Economic System

• Americans favor equality of opportunity over economic equality

• Support of the free-enterprise system

• Tolerate economic inequality

• Value self-reliance

• Will help those “truly in need”

Capitalism: A Definition

• Capitalism: an economic system based on private ownership of property and the means of production, competitive markets, and voluntary exchange for profit

• Government’s role is limited primarily to enforcing contracts and protecting property rights

• The “free enterprise system” Americans favor is capitalism in practice

Comparative Political Participation

• The U.S. lags behind Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom in voter turnout

• But Americans are as active — or substantially more active — in: campaigning, attending political meetings, community involvement, and contacting government officials

Religion and Political Culture

• America has long been among the most religious countries in the world

• Both liberals and conservatives have used the pulpit to promote political change

• Fewer Americans are identifying with a religion

  • ~1/3 of Gen Z are religiously unaffiliated, vs. ~1/4 of Gen X and less than 1/5 of Baby Boomers

Sources

• Shared history

• Dominant religious beliefs

• Family

• What else shapes American political culture?

Class Consciousness and the Culture War

• Class Consciousness: a belief that one is a member of an economic group whose interests are opposed to people in other such groups

• Orthodox: a belief that morality and religion ought to be of decisive importance

• Progressive: a belief that personal freedom and solving social problems are more important than religion

• Culture war issues include: abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, gun control, religious freedom vs. secularism, and education

Mistrust of Government

• Trust in government has remained consistently below 30% since 2008

• But: survey respondents are often talking about politicians, not the system of government itself

• Confidence has declined across most institutions — churches, public schools, newspapers, television news, Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court

• The military is the sole major exception, rising over the same period

Civil Society and Social Capital

• Civil Society: voluntary action that makes cooperation easier

• Americans are more likely than people in other democracies to join voluntary groups

• The more social capital a community has, the greater the level of trust among its members

Civic Virtue: A Founding-Era Warning

• Benjamin Franklin: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters” (1787)

• Tocqueville: voluntary associations train citizens in cooperation and public spirit without relying on the state

• Tocqueville’s warning of soft despotism: in a prosperous democracy, people may willingly trade freedom for comfort

Political Tolerance

• Democratic politics depends on reasonable tolerance of the opinions and actions of others

• Paradox of tolerance: are there views that should not be tolerated in a free society?

Tolerance and the Courts

• Courts are sufficiently insulated from public opinion that they can act against majority sentiments and enforce constitutional protections

• Connects to Madison and Tocqueville’s concern over tyranny of the majority: the danger that a democratic majority uses its power to oppress a minority