Policies and Practice of Political Culture: Theory and Sustainabilty

Hristić, Ljubomir (2017) Policies and Practice of Political Culture: Theory and Sustainabilty. Institute of social sciences, Belgrade. ISBN 978-86-7093-171-8

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Abstract

The ideaof political culture has remained intuitively appealing as a framework for political explanation and assessment, despite a large body of compelling criticism that has accumulated since its introduction three decades ago. However, even recently, adherents of the political culture approach have been unsuccessfulto address the fundamental shortcomings of the concept and its application. This book has two goals. First, a thoroughanalytical critique is undertaken of a dominant strand of political culture theory, closely examining major formative works (e.g.Almond and Verba) as well as numerousrecent studies (e.g., Inglehart). Secondly, on the basis of this critique, a recasting of the concept is presented.The thesis underlying the examinationis that theoretical and methodological problems were built into the concept of political culture at the outset. The chief conceptual problems identified are that: 1) the conceptual melding of the broader culture with political culture has muddled the identification of causes and subverted the investigation of political structures and procedures; 2) the assumption of cultural continuity has left change to be explained only outside the model; and 3) the insistence upon national units of analysis has obscured the significanceof subnational political groupings. Major political trends in recent decades defy explanation in terms of the predictableapproach to political culture, forprominent subculturalcleavages and rapid changes in collectively held political attitudes imply not only important effects emanating from the functioning of politics itself, but also a lack of uniformity across subnational groupings. Political cultures are shaped, not of broader cultural forces, but of individual subjective perceptions gleaned from a limited variety and quantityof interactions with the structures and processes of politics. Theseperceptions produceexpectations, assumptions, choices, and incentives concerning the functioning of politics, all of which comprise political cultures. In this model, political cultures manifest themselves not in terms of national political cultures, butrather of political cultural subgroupings based on differentialperspectives on politics (e.g.socioeconomic, demographic, regional...). The book concludes with discussions of the model and of its implications for research.

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