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Political Culture and Civic Culture

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Political Culture and Civic Culture
How does the concept of ‘civic culture' differ from that of ‘political culture'? To what extent can the latter explain why the politics of countries differ?

"When we speak of the political culture, we refer to the political system as internalized in cognitions, feelings, and evaluations of its population."
Almond and Verba

In their classic 1963 study, Civic Culture, political culture was defined within very narrow parameters, concerning only ‘political' attitudes. This neglected the existence of other non-psychological factors such as political skills and race that played an equally important role in influencing the political system as political culture. This is one of the many limits of political culture. However, in this essay we will realize that despite the limits of political culture, it is nevertheless an imperative political characteristic of a country. Almond & Verba's ideology of a civic culture has its limits as well. Despite this similiarity, these two forms of cultures have broad differences.

Being a fairly new theory and also a touchstone in the study of political culture, Almond and Verba's idea of civic and political culture has been under speculation by other political professionals. This essay will define civic culture and inspect its criticisms. We will then inspect the contrasts between civic and political culture, as will be evident when defining political culture. I will then advance to study the effectiveness of the theory of political culture in three different scenarios. Through understanding the limits of political culture, we will be able to briefly consider the existence of other factors aside from ‘political' attitudes that could affect governmental policies.

Civic Culture

The idea of a civic culture emerged in 1963, from a classic study entitled Civic Culture by Almond and Verba. In this study, a survey was conducted in five different countries to identify what type of political culture would be the most



Bibliography: • CHAZAN, Naomi, Political Culture and Socialization to Politics: A Ghanaian Case. Review of Politics, 40(1): Jan. 1978: 3-31 • FINLAY, David J, An African Dilemma: University Students, Development, and Politics in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda by Joel D • FOSSEDAL, Gregory, Direct Democracy in Switzerland, Transaction Publishers, 2002, Chapter 16: Family • FREYMOND, Jacques, Switzerland 's position in the World Peace Structure • GABRIEL A. (Abraham) Almond & SIDNEY Verba. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations, Sage Publications, 1963 • GEERTZ, C • ROD Hague & MARTIN Harrop. Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction (5th Ed.). Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 • ROD Hague & MARTIN Harrop

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