Category: Theory Of Political Culture

We have discussed about sub-cultures within political cultures. It is generally agreed that all political cultures are mix and most of them heterogeneous. Heterogeneous and fragmented political cultures are considered unfavourable for democratic stability. Lack of uniformity in political culture could be due to several factors: These are issues related to the configuration or make…

Our discussions with respect to political culture and civic culture, in particular and political development above, suggest that the study of political culture and political socialization is related to the understanding of conditions of successful democratic experiment. How does political culture contribute to the stability of a particular political system and what are the features…

Refers to ‘a process whereby men (political participants) become increasingly rational, analytical, and empirical in their political action.’38 For example, in a traditional political culture one would seek legitimacy based on may be traditional factors as Weber says but in a democratic set-up one seeks office based on calculation of votes, information on voters’ requirements and…

Refers to how far executive and legislative functions are separate from each other, how far the two are separated from the judiciary? What happens when a new sub-system of role develops or is introduced? For example, what happens when universal adult suffrage is introduced making all adults above a particular age eligible to participate in…

Refers the role of the interest and demand groups autonomous of that of the role of the political parties. Political parties are treated as agencies of interest aggregation, i.e., taking the demands and interests as well as the policy proposals to the forums of legislator and policy-makers in the shape of programmes and policies. Interest…

Political culture is understood, as subjective aspect of politics. Subjective aspect means beliefs, symbols and values, which people express towards political objects, institutions, process, etc. It defines the situation in which political action takes place.36 This means nature of the political process in different countries can be explained and understood with reference to how people think…

The role of various agencies of political socializsation is viewed in terms of their imparting a supportive political culture. However, some New Left theorists, Gramsci and Althusser view agencies of political socialization in a capitalist society necessarily as apparatuses of non-coercive domination and means of creating conditions favourable for maintenance of the capitalist system. In…

In classical democracy, political training of citizens has been considered as an important condition for its success. Through political training, citizens are made aware of the requirements of a democratic government and process, expectations from them as participants and their rights and obligations. People form certain opinions and collectively manifest it as part of public…

The discussion above suggests that the population as a whole may not display one type of political orientation. Political sociologists generally agree that diverse political orientations exist in society in different groups towards political objects. It means political culture is not homogenous but heterogeneous. Political sub-culture refers to existence of particular type of orientations, propensities…

Degree and nature of political orientation in terms of cognitive, affective and evaluative can become the basis of classifying political cultures. These include level of knowledge (cognitive), nature of feeling (affective) and opinion and judgment (evaluative) about: Further, orientation towards ‘self’ as an active political actor and participant also becomes an important factor in classifying…