American Political Culture

1
American Political Culture

• A Replacement Discussion for James Q. Wilsons
  Chapter 4 yes Im justifying a power point!

2
Political Culture

• Definition a distinct and patterned way of
  thinking about how political and economic life
  ought to be carried out
• Great what does that mean?

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Culture v. Ideology

• Culture
• The fundamental assumptions that Americans tend
  to show agreement with
• Helps to make our system distinct from other
  systems
• Impossible to replicate

• Ideology
• A coherent (??) set of values and beliefs about
  public policy
• Core political and economic values that separate
  us within a system
• Can unite across national boundaries

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Culture vs. Ideology

• Culture
• WE believe in the concepts of
• Liberty
• Equality
• Democracy
• Civic Duty
• Individual Responsibility
• Rule by Law

• Ideology
• We disagree on the degree of
• Liberty
• Equality
• Democracy
• Civic Duty
• Individual Responsibility
• Rule by Law

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Liberty

• Americans are preoccupied with their rights. (C)
• They believe they should be free to do pretty
  much as they please, with some exceptions, so
  long as they dont hurt anybody. (C)
• But how much liberty are we comfortable with?
  And how much will we demand? (I)

6
Equality

• Americans believe everybody should have an
  equal vote and an equal chance to participate and
  succeed. (C)
• Or at least we claim to! (C or I?)
• But how much equality will we demand? (I)

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Democracy

• Americans believe that government officials
  should be accountable to the people. (C)
• Unless the politicians are listening to the other
  side?! (I)

8
Civic Duty

• Americans generally feel people ought to take
  community affairs seriously and help out when
  they can (C)
• We believe in voting, serving (military or
  community), paying taxes, jury duty, and charity
  (C)
• BUT complain about it all! (except for charity -
  usually)

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Individual Responsibility

• For the most part, Americans believe that
  individuals are responsible for their own actions
  and well-being. (C)
• And each has a safety net concept they seem to
  adopt. (C)
• But some nets are large, others small, some have
  small holes, others want huge holes. (I)

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Rule by Law

• Americans accept that our political system
  creates a system of laws that will be enforced by
  police and reinforced by courts and prisons. (C)
• Yet not all accept the system as just, fair, or
  even honest (I)

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Cultural Conflicts

• Are there conflicts inherent in our culture?
• Between the cultural values?
• Within the cultural values?
• Theory v. Reality
• Creed v. Behavior
• Political v. Economic
• Most argue that we simple have ideological
  differences within a unifying political culture
  we agree to disagree in a system we accept.

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Ideology vs Party

• Ideology
• Terms Moderate, Conservative, Liberal
• A set of philosophical beliefs that people
  adhere to as they examine political realities,
  issues, and goals

• Party
• Terms Democrat, Republican, Independent
• A team of people that you join who have similar
  ideologies in order to help you accomplish goals
  in the political arena

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So lets talk

• I define myself as
• Choose from the following
• Moderate
• Conservative
• Liberal
• Democrat
• Republican
• Independent
• Other
• Dont Know

• What do these mean?
• Moderate
• Conservative
• Liberal
• Democrat
• Republican
• Independent
• Other

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A Great Resource

• Play with the following chart
• http//www.informationisbeautiful.net/leftvright_w
  orld.html
• Does it help you understand?
• What do you not understand?
• What do you disagree with?
• How could we improve it?

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Do we have an emerging CULTURE WAR?

• Some argue that 2 distinct political cultures are
  developing not just two ideological groups (red
  v blue).
• Support their argument
• Lets take a look
• http//www-personal.umich.edu/mejn/election/
• http//www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion
  /oped/articles/2005/08/10/red_vs_blue_not_true/
• What will Tuesday show us???????

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Mistrust of Government

• Has mistrust of government become another
  cultural value?
• Since the mid-1950s, the of Americans claiming
  they trust government to do the right thing has
  steadily declined.
• WHY?
• Is it the system or the individuals in the system
  that they dont trust?

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Civic Competence

• Defined as a belief that one can affect
  government policies.
• As compared to most European nations while we
  lag behind most in voter participation (yet have
  far more elections to vote in), we are more
  active with
• Campaigning and contributing
• Attending political meetings
• Being active in community affairs
• Contacting government

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Political Efficacy

• Defined as a citizens capacity to understand
  and influence political events
• Internal efficacy the ability to understand and
  take part in political affairs
• External efficacy the ability to make the
  system respond to me
• Where are Americans?
• Internal is high and constant
• External is high, yet declining some
• Some say we are becoming more ALIENATED we do
  like sending messages to incumbent parties.

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The Civic Role of Religion

• Since our founding, there has been a greater
  civic role for religion than found in Europe.
• Over last 20 years, more Americans claim a
  religious focus in their lives.
• Religion attracts many as much for its civic as
  for its spiritual importance Wilson p. 82

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Religion and Politics Today?

• What is the appropriate role for religion in our
  political system?
• BE CIVIL

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Political Tolerance

• Democracy relies on reasonable tolerance.
• We accept that
• The unpopular can be heard
• The media wont be censored (at least not
  obviously)
• Demonstrations (at least the peaceful ones) are
  not to be broken up by hostile mobs
• Losers in elections accept the position of the
  victor
• So where do we struggle?

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Which group should be allowed to

• Use the AHS facilities?
• Protestants holding a revival meeting
• Right-to-life groups opposing abortion
• People organizing for the disabled rights
• People organizing for homosexual rights
• Atheists preaching against God
• Communists discussing equality
• Ku Klux Klan discussing laundry
• Students organizing a sit-in to shut down

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Which person should be allowed to

• Speak at AHS in a classroom?
• An admitted communist?
• Someone who opposes churches and religion?
• Someone who favors government ownership of
  transportation industries?
• Someone who believes that African- Americans are
  genetically inferior?

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How did our culture develop?

• Adversarial nature of our founding and its need
  for unity
• Our religious, regional, economic, political,
  cultural, intellectual, racial, and social
  diversity
• Our economic, political, and social history

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Alexis de Tocqueville says

• There is no other country, proportionately to
  population, where there are so few ignorant and
  so few learned.
• In America most rich men began by being poor
• Men there are nearer equality in wealth and
  mental endowments, or, in other words, more
  nearly equally powerful, than in any other
  country of the world or in any other age of
  recorded history.

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And he says

• The inhabitant of the US learns from birth that
  he must rely on himself to combat the ills and
  trials of life he is restless and defiant in his
  outlook toward the authority of society and
  appeals to its power only when he cannot do
  without.
• The more I observe the main effects of a free
  press, the more convinced am I that, in the
  modern world, freedom of the press is the
  principal and constitutive element of freedom.

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And

• In the US it is not only mores that are
  controlled by religion, but its sway extends even
  over reason.
• It has been saidthat our contemporaries love
  equality much more ardently and tenaciously than
  liberty.
• Not only does democracy make men forget their
  ancestors, but also clouds their view of
  descendants and isolates them from their
  contemporaries.

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So you say

• What did he mean when he was writing in the
  1830s?
• Do his observations hold today?

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So our next topic

• What divides us most race or class?

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The End

• Thanks for your generous applause.
• Gifts can be donated at the front of the room.