POLITICAL CULTURE

 political culture, in political science, a set of shared views and normative judgments held by a population regarding its political system

 

American political scientist Lucian Pye defined political culture as the composite of basic values, feelings, and knowledge that underlie the political process. Hence, the building blocks of political culture are the beliefs, opinions, and emotions of the citizens toward their form of government.

 

Three pure types of political culture: parochial, subject, and participant. In a parochial political culture, citizens are only indistinctly aware of the existence of central government. In a subject political culture, citizens see themselves not as participants in the political process but as subjects of the government. In a participant political culture, citizens believe both that they can contribute to the system and that they are affected by it.

 

A civic culture or civic political culture is a political culture characterized by "acceptance of the authority of the state" and "a belief in participation in civic duties". The term was first used in Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba's book, The Civic Culture. Civic political culture is a mixture of other political cultures namely parochial, subject and participant political cultures.

 

Almond and Verba state that the following are characteristics of a civic culture

• Orientation toward political system in both the political and governmental senses

• Pride in aspects of one's nation

• Expectation of fair treatment from government authorities

• Ability to talk freely and frequently about politics

• An emotional involvement in elections

• Tolerance towards opposition parties

• A Valuing of active participation in local government activities, parties, and in civic associations

• Self-confidence in one's competence to participate in politics

• Civic cooperation and trust

• Membership in the political associations.

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