Political Culture and Ideology - Chapter 4
Defining the American Political Culture
o Widely shared beliefs, values, and norms about how citizens relate to govn’t and each other
o Who participates in political decisions, what rights/liberties citizens have, how political decisions are made, general population thoughts on politics/govn’t? (ways to discover nation’s political culture)
o Some constants – ex. Fear of concentrated power and respect for personal liberty, equality, justice, individualism, rule of law, patriotism, optimism, idealism
o Social capital = discussion, compromise, and respect for differences which grows out of diplomatic discussion and voluntary participation