Political Culture
Just a brief look at the meaning of the word and the concept
Political Culture -Concept and Approaches
Political culture is an important concept used in the field of social sciences, describing the attitudes of society at large. It refers to historically-based, widely-shared beliefs, feelings, and values about the nature of political systems, which can serve as a link between citizens and government.
We all know that every country has its own distinct populace with distinct beliefs and value system, which comes into being based on many factors such as History, Culture, Traditions, Interests and Institutions.
Almond and Political Culture
The classic study of political culture is The Civic Culture (1963) by American political scientists Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba.
In 1963, two political scientists, Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba, published a study of the political cultures associated with five democratic countries: Germany, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
According to Almond and Verba, there are three basic types of political culture, which can be used to explain why people do or do not participate in political processes.
- Parochial Political Culture
Citizens are uninformed and unaware of the political process and do not take much interest-Mexico
- Subject Political Culture
Citizens are somewhat informed and aware of their government and occasionally participate in the political process.
Eg- Germany and Italy
- Participant political culture
The United Kingdom and the United States, citizens are informed and actively participate in the political process It can be condensed to a set of shared beliefs and normative judgements about a political system.
Political culture is the property of a collectivity — for example, a country, region, class, or party, In Almond and Verba’s study, Britain and, to a lesser extent, the United States came closest to this ideal. In both countries, the citizens felt that they could influence the government.
