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United states political culture
Mass media influence on american culture
Mass media influence on american culture
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Every society has a different political culture that affects every facet of its structure. American political culture is a topic widely discussed as to what it is and how it works. While there is room for debate, the facets of American political culture that are most widely agreed upon are liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, the rule of law, nationalism, and capitalism. In order to understand these facets, its important to understand first what exactly a political culture is. First, “culture refers to the shared beliefs that people learn from society” (civicvoices.org). The background for American civic culture includes "the norms and values that enable social cohesion (the capacity to act collectively, manage conflict, and adapt to …show more content…
. Political culture is defined by the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences as "the set of attitudes, beliefs and sentiments that give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system”. “It encompasses both the political ideals and operating norms of a polity. Political culture is thus the manifestation in aggregate form of the psychological and subjective dimensions of politics” (Freeman). The history of a nation is a direct product of political culture; it is “the product of both the collective history of a political system and the life histories of the members of the system and thus it is rooted equally in public events and private experience" (Freeman). Political culture affects how people interpret their society, what they expect from their political world, as well as what people value in said society. “Political culture also shapes people’s roles and behavior within their political world” (www.civicvoices.org). . The differences in political cultures manifest in the values of its …show more content…
Nationalism is a belief or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or becoming attached to, one's nation. Despite some of the unsavory history and unfortunate fallbacks, many Americans are proud to identify as such. For many people, “this value includes the belief that we are stronger and more virtuous than other nations” (www.ushistory.org). Examples of nationalism in America can be seen in the made in America campaign which reached almost every sales market. Another example can be seen in the singing of the national anthem and the recitation of the pledge of allegiance at large events such as the super bowl, baseball games, etc. Some major nationalistic events include Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. Other small holidays such as President’s Day and President’s birthdays reveal the extent of celebration of American nationalism. American nationalism can be heard in songs on the radio, in television broadcasts, and just about every other form of media available. The sense of community and togetherness is one of the main reasons the American political culture remains so strong in spite of the differing opinions and
Increasingly over the past two decades and in part thanks to the publication of James Davison Hunter’s book, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, the idea of a culture war in American politics has been gaining attention. While the tension between conservatives and liberals is palpable, it’s intensity has proven hard to measure. However, it doesn’t seem that many Americans are polarized on the topic of polarization as most would agree that the culture war is real (Fiorina, 2005). This thinking is what prompted Morris Fiorina to write the book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. In it, Fiorina outlines an argument against the idea of a culture war by looking at party affiliation by states, how public opinion on hot button issues changed over time and various explanations for why Americans are so hung up on the topic of polarization. While Fiorina makes a good argument, the evidence supporting the culture war is too powerful to explain away.
The book Culture Wars? The Myth of a Polarized America by Morris P. Fiorina, Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy C. Pope is a persuasive text regarding America and its division on political topics.
Chapter One of the Book We the People talks about the American Political Culture, there are multiple main points in the chapter. However this chapter mainly talks about how people can influence their government by having the knowledge needed to understand which candidates can represent their values the best. Also by having the necessary knowledge a person can understand how the election process works and how they can be involved in this process. The other main point of the reading is about the shared believes, values and attitudes that the American people have towards their government.
American states each have individual political cultures which are important to our understanding of their political environments, behavior, and responses to particular issues. While voters probably do not consciously think about political culture and conform to that culture on election day, they seem to form cohesive clusters in different areas of the state, creating similar group political ideologies. Because of these similarities, it is possible to measure the dominant political culture within states or areas of a state, gaining insight into the mind-set of state residents. Whatever the state culture, whether liberal or conservative, participatory or exclusive, political culture identifies dominant, state-wide trends. The question remains whether there is an accurate way to measure this political culture phenomenon in the United States.
“Nationalism(n.) - loyalty or devotion to a nation, especially an attitude, feeling, or belief characterize by a sense of national consciousness” (The War of 1812 and the Rise of Nationalism 1). Nationalism was a crucial part of America’s success during the War of 1812; nationalism was reflected in the post-war period through increased national pride, emphasis on national issues, increase in power and scope of the national government, and a growing sense of American identity (The War of 1812 and the Rise of Nationalism 1). The first to arise which was the driving force behind American victories against the British was nationalism. This nationalism was expressed in four ways; patriotism, political, economical and cultural. American patriotism
Throughout the years, humans have constructed many unique civilizations; all which follow a distinct social, economic, and political structure. Even so, there is one characteristic that prevails among these societies, the concept of nationalism. In short, nationalism refers to the feelings people have when identifying with their nation. This simple notion possesses the ability to divide or unite collective groups, and has played an important role in many historical events.
Nationalism was expressed throughout the 1800s. These people came together through different ideas. Through these different ideas America came to be known as a stronger nation. The Second Great Awakening, the Industrial Revolution, and the Educational Reform, are all proof that effected nationalism in America.
According to Daniel Elazer, there are three separate manifestations of the American political culture. Daniel states that there wasn’t just one political culture that there was three, these being moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic. Daniel states that each individual state has a culture type of the three that were named above. He shows that the southern states are more of the traditionalistic type. Elazer goes on to explain that migration in the 19th century gave pattern to the dominant cultures, and that migration was happening from east to west. As these people migrated throughout the United States not only did they move to get a new life or so to say a fresh start, these people also took their values with them. Dominant culture
The political culture that defines American politics shows that despite this compromise, America is still very much a democratic society. The very history of the country, a major contributor to the evolution of its political culture, shows a legacy of democracy that reaches from the Declaration of Independence through over two hundred years to today’s society. The formation of the country as a reaction to the tyrannical rule of a monarchy marks the first unique feature of America’s democratic political culture. It was this reactionary mindset that greatly affected many of the decisions over how to set up the new governmental system. A fear of simply creating a new, but just as tyrannic... ...
Nationalism is a way of thinking both politically and socially to create a community united by history, ethnicity, religions, common culture, and language. Numerous effects occurred while establishing a Nationalist community, some effects were a long term impact on Nationalism, and other were short term impacts on Nationalism. Bloody Sunday was a big impact of Nationalism, what started out as a peaceful march of Petersburg workers marching to the Winter Palace led by Father Gapon turned out to be a nightmare. The marchers wanted to establish an eight hour work day, establish minimum wage, and assemble a constitution, while the marchers marched they were fired upon by Russian troops and several hundred marchers were killed.
Daniel Elazar was the person who found that there are three political culture types in the United States. He has a very well-known quote/definition that is “Attitudes, values, beliefs, and orientations that individuals in a society hold regarding their political system.” The take away from that definition of what political culture is that every person has a certain attitude that they feel about the government. Which he stated that to better understand the relationship towards the government and its people it to get a better understanding on how those people feel towards their government. Daniel Elazar broke them down to three subcultures in which he thought could group all Americans into each category. This theory about the government
The idea of political culture is found within the state’s history. The history of the state is impacted by the people settled in the region, religious backgrounds, and geography. The history of the state influences the attitudes and beliefs that people hold regarding their political system. Daniel Elazar theorized a connection between the states’ history and attitude towards government by explaining differences in government between states. Every state is different with some common ground. Elazar’s theory divides states into three types: moralistic, traditionalistic and individualistic. The state’s constitution defines the powers of government with political culture bias. Because of the state constitution, the political culture influences the power and limitations of governors, legislative, and judiciaries.
American political culture emphasizes the values of liberty, equality, and democracy. Most of America’s debating is not over whether these issues are important, but how to best go about achieving these ideas. American’s define liberty as freedom, but America believes that liberty should be contained on some levels so they can create a stable society. The definition of freedom is that we can do whatever we want, as long as we do not affect another person’s freedom. American’s want to be able to do what they want, while not affecting someone else. So some rules are set to protect people and create a stable society.
The American Political System The American political system is a federal system, which consists of
The political culture of a country is the basic values, attitudes, beliefs, and ideas of the people t...